
Class Z&TVUQ 

BookJH& 

Gopyriglit^N?_ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



MIND AND SPIRIT 

A Study in Psychology 



BY 
THOMAS KIRBY DAVIS, D.D. 




BOSTON 

SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 

1914 



^ 






Copyright, 1914 
Sherman^ French & Company 

AUG-/ 1314 
©CI.A379055 



PREFACE 

Mr. Lincoln knew what he was talking about 
when he said that the Lord must love the com- 
mon people — he made so many of them. I be- 
lieve thoroughly in them, and. in the common 
sense of mankind. When our Lord was on the 
earth " the common people heard him gladly." 
This showed their good sense. The educated, 
the opulent, and the eminent hated and per- 
secuted him. This showed how perverted they 
had become. The preservation, extension, and 
final triumph of spiritual Christianity will, I 
verily believe, depend upon the simple faith and 
true devotion of the common people far more 
than upon the profound scholarship and learned 
and abstruse dissertations of educated men. 

I believe in good and accurate scholarship, 
and I have a profound respect for the learning 
and wisdom of men who are humble believers in 
the blessed Savior of mankind. But there are 
some men, I believe, in theologrcaT~seminaries 
and large universities who have been educated, 
or are now educating themselves, away from the 
Christ of the Bible — from him who is " the 
Light of the World," " The Life of Men," and 



PREFACE 

" the Desire of all Nations." They know far 
more than is for their own good, or for the good 
of any one else. In other words, they " know 
too much that isn't so." They must experience 
a change in their idea of education. Instead 
of trying to cram their students with a vast deal 
of mind-stuff that is worthless, if not untrue, 
they must labor to dram out of the student what 
God has put in him. They must give to the 
development of personal character, to the reli- 
gious instinct in human nature, and to the 
spiritual and moral qualities insisted upon by 
the Great Teacher, a higher place in education 
than is given to s the acquirement of multifa- 
rious information, and to smartness, that beset- 
ting sin of Americans. Education must become 
more practical, intelligible, usable, and espe- 
cially more spiritual and moral, or the people, it 
seems to me, will have to leave the teachers who 
are above the ordinary comprehension ; and tak- 
ing the Word of God for their guide, and a few 
elementary books on the arts and sciences to 
help them, will have to take the teaching of their 
children into their own hands. 

The leading thought in the following treatise 
is, that Mentality, which man shares with many 
of the animals, is not his most important endow- 
ment. The religious instinct which manifests 
itself in every human being is more important, 
and especially the spirituality which is imparted 



PREFACE 

to every one who has heard the Gospel, believed 
it, and received the Savior into his heart. The 
mind being inferior to the spirit, the object in 
all education should be to enable the spirit to 
dominate the mind. In the treatise the first sec- 
tion is designed to show the special reason I 
have for having a firm faith in the truth taught 
in Scripture. The second section, on Revela- 
tion, is intended to give my reasons for receiving 
the Bible just as it is, as containing the truth 
we most need, and which we never could have 
known without a special revelation. The 
largest section sets forth the true psychology of 
man as taught in the New Testament, and the 
tremendous mistakes which have been made in 
preaching, in philosophy, and in education, 
through the prevalence of a false psychology. 
Then follows the section on the new birth and 
the new life rendered necessary by man's fallen 
condition, and insisted on by our Lord and his 
apostles. The last section, on the Holy Spirit 
of Promise, is intended to show how each be- 
liever in Jesus may become a strong character 
and a real power in the world and how the 
church is to gain the glorious victory foretold 
in prophecy. 

According to the Scriptures, God loves every 
person, but he hates the ways of some people, 
and he will punish them for their doings. He 
loves the rich, the cultured, and the famous just 



PREFACE 

as he loves the poor and obscure. He would 
be glad to save them from their sins and miseries 
if they would let him. But great wealth, noisy 
fame, and the love of worldly pleasure in most 
cases prevent the salvation of those who enjoy 
them. Indeed, according to the Scriptures, 
such things are always a peril. 

That God may bless this little book to the 
temporal and eternal happiness of those who 
read it is the writer's earnest prayer. 

Wooster, Ohio. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I A Personal Reminiscence .... 1 

II Revelation . 6 

III The True Psychology 24 

IV The Second Birth and the New Life 75 

V The Holy Spirit of Promise . . .88 

Addenda 100 



CHAPTER I 
A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE 

I believe that a Christian ought to be ready 
to testify for Christ on every favorable occasion. 
For that reason I embrace this opportunity to 
tell a bit of my experience. When a lad of six- 
teen I entered Yale College. After a few- 
months I was awakened and brought to a de- 
cision on the subject of personal religion 
through the efforts of Henry Day, an older 
classmate. For a couple of years I was an 
active and earnest Christian, endeavoring to be 
faithful in every duty, and I was a happy boy. 
During my senior year, when passing through 
that period of foolhood which, in some cases, 
comes between childhood and manhood, I read 
some of the writings of Dr. Channing, the father 
of New England Unitarianism. I was so much 
influenced by his flings at evangelical Christian- 
ity that in an evil hour I made up my mind that 
I had made a great mistake ; that I had been de- 
priving myself of many liberties and pleasures 
unnecessarily, and so I turned my back upon 
the communion-table and prayer-meetings. I 
began associating with those of my class who 



% MIND AND SPIRIT 

paid but little if any attention to religion and 
spent much of their time in search of what 
they considered pleasure. This was the state 
of affairs when I was graduated. After a 
time I took charge of an academy in Pennsyl- 
vania. During that year things changed. I 
failed to find the pleasure I had anticipated in 
keeping company with young men who had no 
interest in religion, and in attending the 
" balls " and dancing-parties which they seemed 
to enjoy. I began to wonder what life meant 
anyhow. I could not see that either I or any- 
body else was living to any purpose. Life had 
lost all the sweetness and charm it had always 
possessed for me, both before and after my con- 
version. Nothing could possibly be more dull, 
blank, and unsatisfying than life now became to 
me. I seemed to be like one at sea, without 
compass and chart; the heavens were overcast 
with clouds, and I was at my wits' end. 

I became unspeakably wretched, and never 
once imagined the cause of it. I was in good 
health. And yet in looking back to> that experi- 
ence I have often thought that if anyone ever 
was in hell, I was at that time. 

All at once it dawned upon me for the first 
time that the trouble with me was connected 
with religion. I had denied my Lord and Mas- 
ter, and I had grieved and banished the Holy 
Spirit. This feeling became such that I threw 



A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE 3 

myself on my knees before God, confessing my 
sins and begging for forgiveness. I prayed 
that for Christ's sake I might be received back 
to the favor of God, and again have the peace 
and comfort I once had enjoyed. The Lord 
in his infinite mercy answered my prayers, and 
in a short time I was on the Rock of Ages 
again, with a new song of gratitude and praise 
in my mouth. At the close of the year of 
teaching I hastened to the Theological Semi- 
nary at Princeton. 

Now see how the Lord Jesus Christ has been 
treating me after all my mean and selfish treat- 
ment of him. He has used me in preaching 
" the glorious gospel of the blessed God " for 
nearly sixty-five years. I am now in my eighty- 
ninth year. I feel younger and am happier 
than at fifty or at twenty-five. Life is sweeter 
and has more of the charm it had when I was 
young. The world is more beautiful and at- 
tractive; people are more interesting; friends 
are dearer and friendships sweeter than ever be- 
fore. And I owe all this to my personal rela- 
tions to our Lord and Savior. I am sure that 
it is in answer to my prayers, and owing to his 
blessing on the care I have taken of myself, that 
I am so strong, and feel so well, and am so 
happy. 

Which would be better for me, to remain here 
in the body or to go to the other world, I do not 



MIND AND SPIRIT 



know. I have wanted to stay here because I 
have not thought that my work was done. But 
if I believed that my work was done, how grand, 
how glorious it would be to fall asleep in Jesus 
and awake in the presence of the Lord, to be 
with many loved ones gone before, and to under- 
stand some things which now to me are often 
so hard to understand. 

And another thing. If all the learned pro- 
fessors in the land were to lose their faith in 
the Bible, and to deny the Lord that bought 
them, and to reject the truth about the Holy 
Spirit and the second birth and the new life, 
I would not and could not go with them. I 
would preach God's truth, and insist upon it 
until death that they were all wrong; that they 
had become rationalists (that is, unbelievers) 
through pride of intellect, trusting for informa- 
tion about spiritual things to their own natural 
powers rather than receiving as little children 
the unique, sublime, and gracious revelation our 
Heavenly Father has made through patriarchs, 
prophets, and apostles, and his only Son, our 
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

My own dismal experience when I had grieved 
and banished the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, 
and my happy experience since the Lord gra- 
ciously drew me back to himself, have satisfied 
me and given me the confidence I have to-day, 
and the joy I have in growing old and drawing 



A PERSONAL REMINISCENCE 5 

near to the World of Wonders and Delights. 
Having had this sad experience, and having 
through a very long life tested its reality, and 
the truth and reality of the religion revealed 
in the Bible, it has occurred to me that I might 
without impropriety give to the public some of 
my thoughts upon the subject of religion. 
Such are the assaults made, even at this day, 
upon the integrity and value of the Holy Scrip- 
tures and upon the Person and Work of our 
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that anyone 
who has a word of testimony in favor of the 
grand old Book and of the great and glorious 
Person who is our authority for receiving it as 
from God, may well be excused for wishing to 
give that testimony to the church and to the 
world. 



CHAPTER II 

REVELATION 

The inadequacy of human reason to discover 
spiritual truth, and moral duty as based upon 
spiritual truth, rendered necessary a revelation 
from the great Creator of the heavens and the 
earth. We may be perfectly sure that the mind 
of man is not equal to the task, from the fact 
that from an early age philosophers have been 
endeavoring to discover, by the exercise of 
their natural powers, what is the truth concern- 
ing God and man; in other words, to explain 
God, man, and the universe ; and they have but 
seldom agreed with each other. Generally each 
one has busied himself with efforts to confute 
his predecessor. More than this, it is utterly 
incredible that a wise and benevolent Being 
would have created the heavens and the earth, 
and man to dwell upon the earth, and left him 
in ignorance of his origin and of the origin 
of the universe, and of the purpose and will 
of the Almighty Creator in ordering things as 
they are. Hence, from the beginning God be- 
gan holding communication from time to time 
6 



REVELATION 7 

with men. This communication was more or 
less guarded and veiled, of course, so as not to 
interfere too much with the free intelligence 
of men. Through the patriarchs of the race, 
through the prophets of Israel, and especially 
through the mission and teachings of his own 
Son and his apostles, this revelation has been 
made. He ordered it so that a record was 
made, at different times, and in various ways, 
of what he wished to make known, and the rec- 
ords gathered into a volume. This Volume has 
been preserved in its integrity until this day. 
It is not written in the stilted and pedantic 
style of a law book, or a medical work, or a 
philosophical treatise. It is a quaint, old-fash- 
ioned book, made up of bits of history, bio- 
graphical sketches, poems, proverbs, prophecies, 
parables, and letters — just the kind of read- 
ing that would most attract and interest com- 
mon people. These various writings make up 
The Bible, It is the only authentic and reli- 
able source of information we have concerning 
God, his nature and character, and concerning 
the origin, nature, duty, and destiny of man. 
What we learn from the manifold works of the 
Creator, and from the processes of nature, con- 
firms what he has been pleased to reveal. The 
Bible is a spiritual book. It contains, and was 
evidently intended to convey, a revelation of 
spiritual truth and moral duty. We need not 



8 MIND AND SPIRIT 

go to it for information about any branch of 
natural science, or any scheme of economics. 
Our Maker, having given to man the splendid 
faculty of reason, has not revealed in Scripture 
anything which man could find out in the exer- 
cise of his natural faculties. Reason is alto- 
gether adequate and reliable when exercised 
within the sphere of human affairs. But it is 
wholly inadequate and unreliable when applied 
to the discovery of things beyond our sphere, 
things of which we can have no knowledge, the 
deep things of God. The Divine Being has, 
therefore, very mercifully and very wisely re- 
vealed " what man is to believe concerning God, 
and what duty God requires of man." The 
unique, most wonderful and life-giving Book 
in the world — the perennial source of light 
and life for those who will study it — had for 
its author the Spirit of God, working in common 
men, informing, guiding, restraining them, with- 
out interfering in the slightest degree with the 
free use of their natural faculties or of informa- 
tion they had received in the ordinary way, 
or with their natural peculiarities. 

"What is our authority in religion? " is a 
question hotly discussed in this " Age of Doubt." 
Sabatier, an able French rationalist, says: 
"It is not the Church, and it is not the Bible ; 
but it is the Spirit in man." Many are fol- 
lowing Sabatier. And giving up the Bible as 



REVELATION 9 

authority in religion is the secret of the great 
apostasy from " the faith once delivered to the 
saints " which is spreading over our Christian 
countries. The true answer to the question is : 
The authority in religion is God himself, speak- 
ing to mankind in and through the truth re- 
vealed in the Holy Scriptures. 

I receive the Bible as containing the word 
and truth of God, just as I receive and enjoy 
the light and warmth of the sun, and the light 
of the moon and stars by night. It required 
no scientific proofs to satisfy me that they were 
intended for my use and benefit, and that they 
would be most helpful to me. I would be a 
fool to cavil about the spots on the sun or about 
the clouds that sometimes hide the moon. And 
he is most foolish who refuses to use the Bible 
and to profit by its sublime revelations and 
to perform the duties it inculcates, because he 
has heard that there are a few inaccuracies in 
the sacred volume, or because some one has 
thrown dust in his eyes and caused a cloud to 
come between him and the heavenly light that 
shines from the Word. If there are inaccu- 
racies in the Bible they may either be explained 
by well-informed persons ; or they do not touch 
or affect in the least the spiritual truth re- 
vealed or the moral duties enjoined. Wher- 
ever you go you find the Bible — a volume which 
purports to be from the one true wid living 



10 MIND AND SPIRIT 

God. It has been in use for ages, and has 
been of incalculable benefit to individuals, fam- 
ilies, communities, and nations. Why should 
you hesitate to use such a book ? Why wait for 
learned men to bring forward their arguments 
in favor of or against it? Try it for yourself. 
It is wise to prove all things. Millions upon 
millions have tried the Bible, and found it true 
in their happy experience. They have tested 
it by believing its truths and keeping its com- 
mandments. They have found peace in believ- 
ing, and joy in doing, what it bids us believe 
and do. Nearly three hundred years ago a 
large number of men assembled in Westminster, 
in the city of London. They were among the 
most able and excellent men then living, and 
just as able thinkers and as morally upright as 
are any of the leading men at this day, although 
at that time they did not have all the conven- 
iences and comforts that our leading men en- 
joy to-day. This is what they said about the 
Bible: 

" The authority of the Holy Scripture, for 
which it ought to be believed and obeyed, de- 
pendeth not upon the testimony of any man 
or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth 
itself) the author thereof; and therefore it is 
to be received, because it is the Word of God. 

" We may be moved and induced by the tes- 
timony of the Church to an high and reverent 



REVELATION 11 

esteem of the Holy Scripture; and the heaven- 
liness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, 
the majesty of the style, the consent of all the 
parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give 
all glory to God), the full discovery it makes 
of the only way of man's salvation, the many 
other incomparable excellencies, and the entire 
perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it 
doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word 
of God; yet notwithstanding, our full persua- 
sion and assurance of the infallible truth, and 
divine authority thereof, is from the inward 
work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and 
with the Word in our hearts." 

The Rev. R. C. Caffin, in his " Introduction 
to II Peter," in the "Pulpit Commentary," 
expresses the same truth in this way : " The 
books of Holy Scripture and human composi- 
tions lie in different planes; they do not bear 
comparison. There is an indescribable some- 
thing in the Word of God which appeals to the 
human nature which God created, to the con- 
science which bears witness of him — something 
which tells us that the message comes from 
God." 

Every man has a belief or creed, and enter- 
tains a hope of some kind for the future life. 
He either believes the truth which God has re- 
vealed in the Scriptures, or he believes that the 
Scriptures are unreliable and not from God. 



12 MIND AND SPIRIT 

He either enjoys the Christian's glorious hope, 
which is based upon the Word of God; or he 
has a hope, not based upon any solid ground, 
that it will go well with him when he leaves the 
body and appears before the Judge of all the 
earth. 

The great question is : Shall I be dependent 
for my present peace of mind, and my hope 
for the future life upon the mere opinions of 
men, or upon the Word of the living and true 
God? For myself I am altogether unwilling to 
stake my eternal welfare upon the speculations 
and conclusions of men. They are too easily 
biased. They fail to agree among themselves. 
I want the very Word of God as the foundation 
on which to build for time and eternity. 

It is a great thing to have a standard of 
truth and morals. I can think of nothing that 
is more desirable, or more necessary, in human 
life. This we have in the Word of God. When 
men ignore or reject the Scriptures, they have 
endless disputes as to what is to be believed 
and as to what constitutes true morality. But 
when the Word of God is generally and prac- 
tically accepted, we have a standard both of 
truth and morals that is inspired, authorita- 
tive, infallible, and unchangeable. 

The unity and solidarity of mankind is an 
exceedingly important fact revealed in Scrip- 
ture. If ever the Kingdom of God is to prevail 



REVELATION 13 

on the earth, men must be agreed among them- 
selves as to what they shall believe concerning 
God, and what shall be their behavior toward 
him and toward each other. There must be a 
rule of conduct binding upon all. Without this 
agreement there must, of course, be discord and 
contention. The Bible alone furnishes a uni- 
versal standard, and it only requires universal 
faith in its spiritual truths and universal obe- 
dience to its moral requirements, to usher in the 
Millennium and bring about the reign of justice 
and righteousness, of peace and harmony, of 
brotherly love and joy, which believers in Christ 
have always longed for. 

Is the Bible a revelation? Or does the sacred 
volume contain a revelation from God? I think 
we should say, it contains such a revelation. 
This special and unique revelation of truth and 
morals is the most precious possession man has. 
It is an infinitely great blessing for us to know 
exactly what is the will of God concerning us. 
And we know this to an absolute certainty, if 
we have truly accepted Christ, and have been 
regenerated in so doing. To be well acquainted 
with the truth concerning God and the duties re- 
quired of man is an all-sufficient defense against 
and protection from all the insidious errors 
which are rife in the world. Those errors were 
never more numerous or dangerous than at the 
present day. For they now generally include 



14 MIND AND SPIRIT 

some of the more attractive and popular fea- 
tures of Christianity, and so make an easy prey 
of weak and unestablished Christians. But if 
we are wise, and " rooted and grounded " in the 
faith, we shall be safe. " For the weapons of 
our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through 
God to the pulling down of strongholds; cast- 
ing down imaginations, and every high thing 
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
God, and bringing into captivity every thought 
to the obedience of Christ." 

In the conflict with error, God's great gift 
of reason bestowed upon man will help us. 
When the Apostle Paul came to Thessalonica, 
we are told in Acts 17 : 2 that, " as his manner 
was," he went into the synagogue, and reasoned 
with the Jews assembled there " out of the 
Scriptures." Notice (1) that he reasoned with 
them. He used his reasoning power, and he 
appealed to their reason; (2) that it was his 
custom to do this wherever he went. We learn 
from this (1) that we may and must use our 
reason in religious matters, as in all others, 
and (2) that when we find that it is reasonable 
to receive the Scriptures as from God, then we 
must reason out of the Scriptures in our ef- 
forts to win others to Christ, and not reason 
contrary to the Scriptures, or without reference 
to them. It is not rational to receive a revela- 
tion from the Infinite Intelligence, and then cavil 



REVELATION 15 

about some things contained in it because they 
are mysterious to us. We must use our reason 
in ascertaining whether the Scriptures contain a 
revelation from God, and then we must use our 
reason in the effort to ascertain the right inter- 
pretation of Scripture. But when we are satis- 
fied that here we have a revelation, and that 
our interpretation is correct, when we can no 
longer doubt the meaning of a Scriptural state- 
ment, then we would be foolishly inconsistent — 
it would not be rational — to reject the truth 
thus communicated to us. 

It is an interesting and important point con- 
cerning the Scriptures that, coming as they do 
from God, they constitute a vast field of spirit- 
ual and moral truth, which is spread out before 
us just as the field of nature is spread out be- 
fore the scientist. We are bidden by the Mas- 
ter himself to " search the Scriptures." We 
are to seek as for hid treasures and gems of 
truth. No earnest seeker knows just when he 
may make a discovery which will be an important 
addition to the knowledge possessed by the 
church and the world. Under the gospel, that 
is, under the reign of Christ, we need not look 
for commands and prohibitions. Ours is the 
religion of love. If we are humble and teach- 
able, we shall find hints and suggestions every- 
where to help us in coming to a more perfect 
knowledge of the truth. The Lord leaves much 



16 MIND AND SPIRIT 

to our free choice. He wants us to do his will 
freely and out of love to him, and to our fel- 
low-Christians and fellow-men. 

Every one has read of John Robinson, the 
father of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, and 
of his famous saying that much light would yet 
break forth from the Word of God. Daniel 
Webster once wrote in his Bible these words: 
" There is more valuable truth yet to be gleaned 
from the Sacred Writings, that has thus far 
escaped the attention of commentators, than 
from all other sources of human knowledge 
combined." And Bishop Butler, in his " Anal- 
ogy of Natural and Revealed Religion," says: 
" It is not at all incredible that a book which 
has been so long in the possession of mankind 
should contain many truths as yet undiscovered. 
As it is owned, the whole scheme of Scripture 
is not yet understood, so if it ever comes to be 
understood before the restitution of all things, 
and without miraculous interpositions, it must 
be in the same way as natural knowledge is come 
at, by the continuance and progress of learning 
and liberty, and by particular persons attend- 
ing to, comparing and pursuing intimations 
scattered up and down in it, and which are 
overlooked and disregarded by the generality 
of the world." 

If this be a correct view — and who can doubt 
it ? — what an infinite pity it is that in so many 



REVELATION 17 

Christian homes the Bible has thus far been 
a neglected book, and that there are in our col- 
leges bright and gifted young men who imagine 
that if they were to become ministers of the 
Word, they would not have field or scope for 
their intellectual powers! And what a happy 
thing it is that a prediction made as long ago 
as in the year 1838 by Archibald Alexander, one 
of the most sagacious men I ever knew, is in the 
way of fulfillment this blessed year of grace, 
1914! His words of wisdom and truth are 
worthy of being repeated and pondered well: 
" There is, undoubtedly, among Christians, too 
great a disposition to acquiesce, without exam- 
ination, in the religion of their forefathers. 
There is too great an aversion to that kind of 
research which requires time and labor; so that 
many who are fully competent to examine the 
foundation on which their religion rests, never 
take the pains to enter on the investigation ; 
and it is to be regretted that many who are 
much occupied with speculations on abstruse 
points of theology, waste the energies of their 
minds on subjects which can yield them no 
manner of profit, while they neglect entirely, or 
but superficially attend to, points of fundamen- 
tal importance. 

" The two great questions most deserving the 
attention of all men are: first, whether the 
Bible and all that it contains is from God; 



18 MIND AND SPIRIT 

second, what those truths are which the Bible 
was intended to teach us. These two grand in- 
quiries are sufficient to give occupation and 
vigorous exercise to intellectual faculties of the 
highest order; and they are not removed en- 
tirely out of the reach of plain, uneducated 
Christians. From the fountain of divine truth 
every one may draw according to his capacity. 
But these inquiries are neglected, not so much 
for want of time and capacity, as because we 
take no pleasure in searching for and contem- 
plating divine truth. Just in proportion as 
men love the truth and value the Bible, they 
will take an interest in all inquiries which re- 
late to the authenticity, canonical authority, 
and correct interpretation of the sacred books. 
The time will come, I doubt not, when these 
studies will occupy the minds of thousands 
where they now engage the attention of one. 
The Bible will grow into importance in the es- 
timation of men just in the same proportion 
as true religion flourishes. It will not only be 
the fashion to associate for printing and cir- 
culating the Holy Scriptures; but it will be- 
come customary for men of the highest literary 
attainments, as well as others, to study the 
sacred pages with unceasing assiduity and 
prayer. And in proportion as the Bible is 
understood in its simplicity and momentous im- 
port, the mere doctrines of men will disappear; 



REVELATION 19 

and the dogmas of the schools and the alliance 
with philosophy being renounced, there will be 
among sincere inquirers after truth an increas- 
ing tendency to unity of sentiment as well as 
unity of spirit. The pride of learning and of 
intellect being sacrificed, and all distinctions 
counted but loss for the excellency of the knowl- 
edge of Christ, a thousand knotty questions 
which now cause divisions and gender strifes will 
be forgotten, and the wonder of our more en- 
lightened posterity will be how good men could 
have wasted their time and their talents in such 
unprofitable speculations, and, more especially, 
how they could have permitted themselves to 
engage in fierce and unbrotherly contentions 
about matters of little importance. 

" Then, also, men will noi more neglect and 
undervalue the Scriptures on pretence of pos- 
sessing a brighter light within them than that 
which emanates from the divine word." 

What a wonderful amount of prophetic 
knowledge and wisdom is packed in those few 
sentences of Archibald Alexander ! 

Before proceeding to the main part of my 
treatise, I would strengthen this, the founda- 
tion, by giving the testimony of several other 
" witnesses " for Jesus. 

Francis Bowen, Professor of Natural Religion 
and Moral Philosophy in Harvard University, 
in the preface to his work on " Modern Phi- 



£0 MIND AND SPIRIT 

losophy from Descartes to Schopenhauer and 
Hartman," gave this testimony : " I have 
faithfully studied most of what the philosophy 
of these modern times and the science of our 
own day assume to teach. And the result is 
that I am now more firmly convinced than ever 
that what has been justly called ' the dirt 
philosophy ' of materialism and fatalism is base- 
less and false. I accept with unhesitating con- 
viction and belief the doctrine of the being of 
one Personal God, the Creator and Governor of 
the world, and of one Lord Jesus Christ, in 
whom ' dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
head bodily ' ; and I have found nothing what- 
ever in the literature of modern infidelity which 
to my mind casts even the slightest doubt upon 
that belief. Not being a clergyman, I am not 
exposed to the cruel imputation, which unbe- 
lievers have too long been permitted to fling 
against the clergy, of being induced by pruden- 
tial motives to profess what they do not believe. 
Let me be permitted also to repeat the opinion, 
which I ventured to express as far back as 1849, 
that i the time seems to have arrived for a more 
practical and immediate verification than the 
world has ever yet witnessed of the great truth 
that the civilization which is not based upon 
Christianity is big with the elements of its own 
destruction.' " 

The Rev. Dr. A. H. Strong, a scholarly and 



REVELATION 21 

learned theologian, in introducing a new edition 
of his " Systematic Theology," gives his testi- 
mony as follows : " I make no doubt that the 
vast majority of Christians still hold the faith 
once for all delivered to the saints, and 
that they will sooner or later separate them- 
selves from those who deny the Lord who bought 
them. When the enemy comes in like a flood, 
the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard 
against him. I would do my part in raising 
up such a standard. I would lead others to 
avow anew, as I do now, in spite of the super- 
cilious assumptions of modern infidelity, my firm 
belief, only confirmed by the experience and re- 
flection of a half-century, in the old doctrines 
of holiness as the fundamental attribute of God, 
of an original transgression and sin of the 
whole human race; in a divine preparation in 
Hebrew history for man's redemption ; in the 
deity, pre-existence, virgin birth, vicarious 
atonement and bodily resurrection of Jesus 
Christ our Lord; and in his future coming to 
judge the quick and the dead. I believe that 
these are truths of science as well as truths of 
revelation; that the supernatural will yet be 
seen to be most truly natural ; and that not the 
open-minded theologian but the narrow-minded 
scientist will be obliged to hide his head at 
Christ's coming." 

Theodore Woolsey, one of my instructors at 



22 MIND AND SPIRIT 

Yale, a great scholar and a wise and good man, 
afterwards for twenty-five years president of 
the college, on retiring from that office handed 
over the chart and seal of the college to the 
custody of the newly-elected president, Dr. 
Porter, and said : " And there is one thing 
which I hope will always be present here, with 
the consideration of which I will close this brief 
address. I hope that as long as the college 
lasts it will be the abode of religion ; of teachers 
who believe in Christ and lead a religious life; 
and of scholars who feel that a noble character 
is something infinitely more precious than learn- 
ing." 

Let me close with the testimony of a great 
man of affairs, John Pierpont Morgan. That 
he had a clear head and sound judgment his 
position in the financial world was sufficient evi- 
dence. One might have supposed that he was 
engrossed with business cares. But far from 
it. Like our noble president, vice-president, 
and secretary of state, amid the multifarious 
duties of their high positions at Washington, 
Mr. Morgan took time to study his Bible, to 
worship God in his Sanctuary, and to sit at the 
feet of Jesus to learn of him. The first ar- 
ticle of his will was in these words : " I com- 
mit my soul into the hands of my Savior, in 
full confidence that, having redeemed and 
washed it in his most precious blood, he will 



REVELATION 23 

present it faultless before the throne of my 
Heavenly Father; and I entreat my children to 
maintain and defend at all hazards and at any 
cost of personal sacrifice, the blessed doctrine 
of the complete atonement for sin through the 
blood of Jesus Christ once offered, and through 
that alone." 

What a joy it is that for our eternal salva- 
tion and our present peace and comfort we 
are dependent, not upon the opinions of any 
man or any set of men, living or dead, but upon 
the great atonement and present intercession 
of our Lord Jesus Christ ! 

O that our careworn, anxious business men, to 
whose labors we owe much of our comfort, 
would imitate Mr. Morgan and others like him, 
and take time for Biblical study, for religious 
worship in the family and at church, and for 
sitting at the feet of Jesus, casting their cares 
and anxieties upon him, and as eager disciples 
learning from him the true wisdom, whose ways 
are pleasantness, and all whose paths are peace. 



CHAPTER III 
THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 



The special revelation which God has merci- 
fully made to mankind in the Scriptures is one 
concerning himself and man. 1. It is a reveal- 
ing of the truth concerning the nature and char- 
acter of the Divine Being, and of his purpose 
in creation, providence, and redemption. 2. It 
is a revealing of the truth concerning the origin, 
nature and character of man, his duty and des- 
tiny. S. It reveals the relation existing be- 
tween God and man. It describes the sin and 

misery into which man fell by disobedience 

thus falling away from God and holiness and 
happiness. And it makes known " the great 
salvation " — the peace, righteousness, holiness, 
love, and joy man may have by believing the 
truth revealed, and accepting, loving, and obey- 
ing the Divine Redeemer — God's eternal Son. 

I wish to speak in this treatise mainly of what 
has been revealed concerning the nature of man. 
He has been generally regarded as made up of 
body and soul. But in the New Testament, the 
Christian — the new man — is described as 
24, 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 25 

made up of body, mmd and spirit — soma, 
psyche, and pnewma. This suggests the true 
psychology of man in his normal state, — that 
is, as he came from the hand of his Creator; 
and his true psychology, also, when he is re- 
stored to the divine image by regeneration and 
sanctineation. I have noticed that those per- 
sons who accept this psychology and make a 
practical use of it, appreciate it very highly. 
They testify that it is a great help to them in 
understanding some of the most important 
truths of spiritual Christianity. 

The word psyche is used in several different 
senses in the New Testament, as it is in Greek 
literature generally, as meaning breath, life, 
soul, etc. But when Paul prayed for his Thes- 
salonian converts that they might be preserved 
blameless in soma, psyche, and pneuma, I believe 
that he meant in body, mind, and spirit. One 
meaning of psyche is " the mind, affections, 
and passions common to men and animals." 
Calvin's definition of it was " the natural powers 
of man," — that is, as he explained it, of man 
before he is regenerated by the Holy Spirit. In 
this, his natural condition, he is in the New Tes- 
tament called the psychical man, man having 
only the psyche, man with the animal intelli- 
gence, affections, and passions. When he is 
begotten of God and born from above, he is 
called the pneumatical man, — man endowed 



26 MIND AND SPIRIT 

with the pneuma, or spirit. James, in his Epis- 
tle, speaking of carnal or worldly wisdom, says, 
" This wisdom descendeth not from above, but 
is earthly, psychical, demoniacal." Jude, 
speaking of scoffers who mock at religion and 
walk after their own ungodly lusts, says: 
" These are they who make separations, are psy- 
chical, not having the spirit." And in Hebrews 
4 :12 we have a statement which seems to teach 
that one use of the Scriptures is to make known 
to all men the distinction between that which is 
merely mental, or natural, and that which is 
truly spiritual. The words are, " For the 
Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper 
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the 
dividing asunder " — separating, or distinguish- 
ing between, psyche and pneuma, mmd and 
spirit. So that in whatever different senses the 
word psyche may be used in the New Testa- 
ment, it is evident that in all such passages as 
I have been quoting it is used to denote the 
natural powers of man. And the word mind is 
the most convenient and suitable one to express 
that idea in English. It is the right one, I 
think, to take the place of psyche in such pas- 
sages. 

It is of first importance, let me here remark, 
that we discriminate properly in the use of 
words. An indiscriminate use of words is a 
chief cause of misunderstanding and wrangling. 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY rt 

It indicates confusion of thought in the person 
who is speaking or writing. It creates confu- 
sion of thought in the hearer or reader. This 
leads to error, error leads to sin, and sin leads 
to misery. " Words are living powers," as 
Trench says. And he quotes Dr. Shedd as say- 
ing that " the success and enduring influence of 
any systematic construction of truth, be it sec- 
ular or sacred, depends as much upon an exact 
terminology as upon close and deep thinking 
itself. Indeed, unless the results to which the 
human mind arrives are plainly stated and 
firmly fixed in an exact phraseology, its think- 
ing is to very little purpose in the end." " The 
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit 
and they are life," said He who spake " as one 
having authority." Cardinal Newman, a mas- 
ter in the use of words, said : " We need not 
dispute ; we need not to prove : we need but to 
define." My old teacher, Dr. Charles Hodge, 
used to say, " Different things should be desig- 
nated by different words." And someone has 
said : " Half the disputes in the world are 
verbal ones." 

Now is it not a surprising thing that little 
or no discrimination is used by any one in the 
use of such words as soul, spirit, mind, moral, 
spiritual, and kindred words, which indeed are 
among the most significant and important in 
the language ? Would it not be a great change 



28 MIND AND SPIRIT 

for the better if the word soul were always used 
to denote the invisible, intangible, immaterial 
part of a human being which is the living in- 
habitant of the body? It is one's self. It is 
the ego, I; the tu, thou. When we speak of 
saving a man's soul, do we not mean saving the 
man himself? When we speak of a person los- 
ing his soul, do we not mean that he is ruining 
himself? 

The soul may act mentally or it may act 
spiritually. It has an intellectual side and a 
spiritual side. When the soul is thinking, it is 
acting mentally or intellectually. When it is 
conscious of God, and aspiring Godward and 
heavenward, it is acting spiritually. It is ex- 
ceedingly important that every person should 
be taught early in life to distinguish between 
the lower and worldly side of his nature, which 
is the mental and physical, and the higher side 
of it, which is the spiritual and moral. 

That the Scriptures do very clearly make the 
distinction between the intellectual and the 
spiritual may be seen in I Cor. 14:14?, 15: 
" For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my 
spirit prayeth, but my understanding is un- 
fruitful. What is it then? I will pray with 
the spirit, and I will pray with the understand- 
ing also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will 
sing with the understanding also." 

That the mind or understanding is referred 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY £9 

to in very many places in Scripture everyone 
knows. But not everyone has noticed that in 
many places the spirit is spoken of when it can- 
not be the same thing with mind. For example : 
" That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 
" He that ruleth his spirit is better than he 
that taketh a city." " The spirit of man will 
sustain his infirmity." " The spirit of man is 
the candle of the Lord, searching all his inner- 
most parts." " He that hath no rule over his 
own spirit is like a city that is broken down, 
and without walls." "Be not hasty in thy 
spirit to be angry." " As a woman forsaken, 
and grieved in spirit." " And I went in bitter- 
ness, in the heat of my spirit." " Every spirit 
shall faint." Nebuchadnezzar's " spirit was 
troubled." " An excellent spirit " was found in 
Daniel, " and understanding." Jesus " groaned 
in spirit." Paul's " spirit was stirred in him." 
Apollos was " fervent in spirit." 

Mind, intellect, understanding, reason, are 
different words to express different acts of the 
soul when it is thinking. It is convenient to 
have them all, as there are shades of difference 
between them. When we speak of the soul 
merely as thinking, we call it the mind; as gain- 
ing and possessing knowledge, we call it the in- 
telligence or intellect; as apprehending the 
meaning of a proposition, or of a subject, we 
call it the understanding. When it enters upon 



30 MIND AND SPIRIT 

a logical process for the ascertaining of truth, 
we call it the reason, or reasoning power. 

The words spirit and heart have different 
shades of meaning. They both, of course, be- 
long to the spiritual part of human nature. 
But when the soul is holding communion with 
the Father of spirits, it is properly called the 
spirit. When exercising affection toward God 
or man we call it the heart. And as love is 
" the greatest thing in the world," the word 
heart is in constant use, and could not well be 
dispensed with. 

It is a surprising thing that writers of good 
repute will use the words moral, spiritual, and 
intellectual, interchangeably. Why do they not 
remember that the word moral etymologically 
and properly relates only to conduct or behav- 
ior, and should never be confused with things 
spiritual or with things intellectual? " Different 
things should be expressed by different words." 

The mind thinks; the spirit feels. Everyone 
knows the difference between feeling and think- 
ing; and perhaps there is no one who cannot 
recall times when he would have been wiser, and 
would have done better to have heeded a deep 
feeling that he had, rather than to have followed 
the judgment which his thinking arrived at. 
The natural man has provisionally a spiritual 
side in his nature, made up of conscience, will, 
affections, and emotions. True, it is as nothing 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 31 

when compared with the spirit of the man who 
has experienced the second birth and been 
ushered into the spiritual realm. But still it 
is a very important fact that the natural man 
has feeling as well as the spiritual man. It is 
that part of his nature which the Divine Spirit 
and Christian friends may reach in their en- 
deavors to win him to Christ. E. C. Sted- 
man therefore spoke with truth when he said, 
" Feeling is deeper than all thought." Dr. 
Schofield, in his " Unconscious Mind," says, 
" The driving impulse by which men are moved 
to act comes from feeling rather than from 
reason." Frances Power Cobbe says, in her 
" Duties of Women " : " Never think — you who 
are young, and glorying perhaps in the grand 
new fields of intellectual culture- opened before 
you — that the intellect is nobler than the 
heart, that knowledge is greater than love. 
Not so ! A thousand times, no ! " Sir Walter 
Scott, so well acquainted with human nature and 
human history, left his testimony on record in 
these words : " We shall never learn to feel and 
respect our real calling and destiny unless we 
have taught ourselves to consider everything as 
moonshine compared with the education of 
the heart." And, wonderful to say, Herbert 
Spencer, so wrong on many points, was right 
on this. He said: "Ideas do not govern the 
world: the world is governed by feelings, to 



32 MIND AND SPIRIT 

which ideas serve only as guides. The social 
mechanism does not rest finally upon opinions, 
but almost wholly upon character." Character 
belongs not to the intellectual but to the spirit- 
ual part of human nature, as every thoughtful 
and observant person knows. Sir William 
Hamilton once said : " There is nothing great 
in the world but man, and nothing great in man 
but mind," and college boys are fond of quoting 
it. But the second part of his saying is not 
true, and so the boys are misled by the philoso^ 
pher. If he had said there is nothing great in 
man but spirit, or nothing great in him 
but character, it would have been nearer the 
truth ; and yet not exactly true, for the mind is 
also great, though not so great as the spirit, or 
character. Ruskin said : " The basest thought 
possible concerning man is that he has no spirit- 
ual nature." 

The trend of thought in our day is toward 
the acceptance of the threefold view of human 
nature, and that for several reasons. One is 
that more use is made of the Bible than in for- 
mer times. It is being studied more intel- 
ligently, prayerfully, and earnestly by a greater 
number of people than ever before. Another is 
that the attention of the Christian people has 
for many years been directed specially and per- 
sistently to the work of the Holy Spirit in the 
regeneration of men, in the sanctification of be- 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 33 

lievers, and to the prophecies and promises 
which the Bible contains in reference to the 
special presence and almighty influence of the 
Spirit in Gospel times. And still another 
reason is that physiological research is giving 
scientists a leaning toward this view of human 
nature. The late Sir William Dawson, eminent 
in science, wrote as follows : 

" We are drawn more closely to that middle 
ground occupied by the New Testament writers 
which gives ... a fair valuation to all the parts 
of the composite nature of man. . . . The New 
Testament has undoubtedly pointed to solutions of 
the mysteries of our nature at which science and 
philosophy are beginning to arrive by their own 
paths; just as, in another department, the Bible 
has shadowed forth the great principles and proc- 
esses of creation in advance of the discoveries of 
geology." 

I am not opposing what theologians call 
dichotomy, nor am I defending trichotomy. So 
far as I know I am not a trichotomist. Trichot- 
omy is the doctrine that man consists of three 
distinct substances — body, mind, and spirit. 
Our teacher, Dr. Charles Hodge, used to argue 
against it on that ground. I would agree with 
him on that point, and I do not receive as truth 
all that has been written by trichotomists. I 
think that they had sight of a very important 
truth, revealed in Scripture ; and in the heat of 



34 MIND AND SPIRIT 

battling for it they, as often occurs in such 
cases, allowed some erroneous statements to 
escape from them. 

With this frank avowal, I give it as my belief 
that it would be a very great gain to the cause 
of truth if Christians would recognize and adopt 
the three-fold distinction of body, mind, and 
spirit without adopting the division of man into 
three distinct and separate substances. 

Man is a unit. But the manifestations of his 
life may properly be distinguished one from 
another. He is not cut up or divided when the 
manifestations of his life are thus distinguished. 
He is an organism, just as is an animal or a 
plant. The plant is one; but what variety 
there is in it! What distinctions we find it 
necessary to make between root, stalk, leaf, and 
blossom. So man is one ; but he has body, and 
mind, and spirit. 

Distinctions are necessary and useful. We 
distinguish between intellect and judgment 
without cutting up the human mind. We make 
a distinction between memory and the imagina- 
tion without impairing the unity of the mind. 
In religion we make a distinction, clear and 
strong, between the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit without dividing the Deity into 
three substances. " To us there is but one God," 
as the apostle declares. Yet the Father is God, 
the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 35 

Making distinctions is not the same thing with 
making divisions. We need not wonder that 
the God who made us is a triune being, since we 
find that man himself is triune — three in one. 

So the Scriptures distinguish between the 
mental or rational in man and the spiritual. 
When once the spiritual is enthroned in the soul 
by an act of God, the intellectual and the 
spiritual become interfused. They cannot be 
separated, while they still remain distinct. 

The mind is spiritualized. " Spiritually- 
minded " is an expression in common use. 
Every faculty and aspect of the mind is influ- 
enced. The spirit becomes more and more dom- 
inant. The entire man is spiritualized. He is 
sanctified in body, mind, and spirit. What 
Joseph Cook used to call " the solar light " 
often shines through the eyes ; and under favor- 
able circumstances, as after earnest prayer, the 
whole face of a sincere believer is illumined. 

The connection between mind and spirit is, of 
course, mysterious, for whatever is immaterial 
and invisible is to us full of mystery. There is 
a profound mystery as to the connection be- 
tween soul and body. But no one thinks of 
denying, because it is mysterious, that there is 
a very close connection, and yet a real distinc- 
tion, between them. I rejoice in the mystery 
connected with the constitution of our nature 
and with the being and works of God generally. 



36 MIND AND SPIRIT 

For mystery is absolutely necessary to our hap- 
piness. If we knew everything, the pleasure of 
seeking and acquiring knowledge would be at an 
end. And constituted as we are, we cannot con- 
ceive of our being happy if such a state of 
things existed. But God is infinite, and man is 
finite. " Canst thou by searching find out 
God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto 
perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst 
thou do ? Deeper than Sheol ; what canst thou 
know? " And yet, " if thou criest after knowl- 
edge, and liftest up thy voice for understand- 
ing: if thou seekest her as silver and searchest 
for her as for hid treasures, then shalt thou 
understand the fear of the Lord, and find the 
knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wis- 
dom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and 
understanding." 

Let us now see how the Scriptures speak of 
human wisdom, or of man's reasoning powers, as 
applied to spiritual things. We shall see that 
they everywhere represent the intellect of man 
as unreliable when it comes to' penetrating the 
deep things of God. " Trust in the Lord with 
all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own un- 
derstanding." " Woe unto them that are wise 
in their own eyes." " If any man thinketh that 
he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet 
as he ought to know." " Thy wisdom and thy 
knowledge it hath perverted thee." " Thou 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 37 

hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else be- 
side me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee." 
" Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man 
glory in his wisdom, . . . but let him that 
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and 
knoweth me, that I am the Lord, who exerciseth 
loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness on 
the earth: for in these things do I delight, saith 
the Lord." " The wise men are ashamed ; they 
are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected 
the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in 
them? " " Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear 
the Lord and depart from evil." " Be not 
righteous overmuch; neither make thyself over- 
wise: why shouldst thou destroy thyself? " 
" For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, 
and the understanding of their prudent shall be 
hid." 

If some one suggests that all these statements, 
so derogatory to human reason and wisdom, are 
taken from the Old Testament; but that surely 
the New Testament, containing the greater light 
and glory of the revelation made by the Son of 
God, contains no such disparagement of the in- 
tellect of man, let us see. 

The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinth- 
ians, quotes and endorses these declarations of 
the Old Testament. He says : " The preach- 
ing of the cross is to them that perish foolish- 
ness ; but unto us who are saved it is the power 



38 MIND AND SPIRIT 

of God. For it is written, I will destroy the 
wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the 
understanding of the prudent. Where is the 
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the dis- 
puter of this world? Hath not God made fool- 
ish the wisdom of this world? For after that 
in the wisdom of God the world by (its) wisdom 
knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness 
of preaching to save them that believe." " Be- 
cause the foolishness of God is wiser than men ; 
and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 
" God hath chosen the foolish things of the 
world to confound the wise; and God hath 
chosen the weak things of the world to confound 
the things which are mighty." " And I, 
brethren, when I came to you, came not with ex- 
cellency of speech or of wisdom." " And my 
speech and my preaching was not with enticing 
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of 
the Spirit and of power : that your faith should 
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the 
power of God." " The natural man receiveth 
not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are 
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned." " For 
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. 
For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own 
craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the 
thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 
Therefore let no man glory in men." 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 39 

How clearly the New Testament also shows 
that human reason is incapable of discovering 
the deep things of God; and, if left to itself, of 
understanding and appreciating them when they 
are revealed. The blessed Master himself said : 
" I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, because thou hast hid these things from 
the wise and understanding, and hast revealed 
them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it 
seemed good in thy sight." 

And what a blessed thing it is, these things 
being so, that whosoever will believe the simple 
Word of God, and act accordingly, will be a 
wonderful gainer thereby, both for the life that 
now is and for the life that is to come ! 

The inadequacy and unreliability of the 
human intellect in regard to the deep things of 
God and to the soul of man, is illustrated in 
the history of philosophy. Philosophy is an 
innocent and harmless word. Indeed it is a 
very good word. It means the love of wisdom, 
as leading to a search for it. As a study of 
general principles, that is, of the laws and causes 
which afford a rational explanation of facts and 
occurrences, it is a proper and useful branch 
of study. This must be done, of course, with 
a due regard to the fundamental truth revealed 
in Scripture. Dr. Adolph Vinet, eminent as a 
philosopher as well as a theologian, said: 
" Philosophy is only a higher degree of good 



40 MIND AND SPIRIT 

sense, which, not pretending to know all things, 
desires to have a thorough knowledge of those 
objects the knowledge of which has been placed 
within our reach." But when it undertakes to 
explain God, man, and the universe on rational 
principles and without any reference to the lim- 
itations of the human mind and the revelation 
made to mankind in the Hebrew and Christian 
Scriptures, philosophy becomes an unsatisfying, 
worthless, and harmful study. In this latter 
sense it began with the Greek philosophers, long 
before the advent of Christ. They made mis- 
takes, of course; but on the whole they did re- 
markably well, considering that they knew noth- 
ing of the revelation which had already been 
made to the Israelites. Even while the apostles 
lived, the lately-formed churches were troubled 
by this false philosophy under the name of 
gnosticism. Some of the leaders of the churches 
were disposed to tamper with and to yield more 
or less to the influence of rationalism under the 
guise of philosophy. Philosophy of that kind 
is false and misleading. It has been harbored 
in the church ever since, and has served to 
weaken the faith of Christians, and thereby to 
debilitate the church of Christ in all the cen- 
turies. Especially since the rise of English 
Deism, and the publication of John Locke's 
" Human Understanding," has philosophy been 
crippling the church and hindering the coming 






THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 41 

of the Kingdom of our Lord. Locke was a 
professed Christian, but, like many at the pres- 
ent day, he wanted to rationalize Christianity. 
His speculations about the human mind were 
taken up at once by many. Bishop Berkeley 
worked them out into a very foolish system of 
idealism. Hume, an infidel, carried the ideas of 
Locke much farther than the latter would have 
been willing to go. The new ideas were eagerly 
grasped by the French infidels, and worked out 
practically into the horrors of the French Revo- 
lution. The German dreamers received them 
gladly, and John Stuart Mill, Huxley, Herbert 
Spencer, and many other Englishmen adopted 
the sensational theory of Locke and applied it 
in their own way. We know the result. The 
alarm and distress of the church, and the 
cackling and crowing of the skeptics for the last 
fifty years, have been owing to this philosophy, 
applied, as it was at once, to the alleged discov- 
eries of Darwin. I remember well when all the 
world appeared to be looking up to Herbert 
Spencer as a great and wonderful thinker and 
leader of thought for other men. To-day 
Borden P. Bowne, in his " Kant and Spencer," 
says that Spencer's philosophy " is finally dis- 
credited, having become obsolete even before its 
author's death." 

John Calvin had perhaps the best mind of all 
the men on earth in his day. I say this because 



42 MIND AND SPIRIT 

the product of his thinking and the greatness of 
his influence are felt and acknowledged to this 
day in the spheres of theology, government, and 
education. Would you have his opinion of the 
philosophy of the schools ? Here it is : " No 
one under the guidance of mere nature ever 
made such proficiency as to know God. Should 
anyone bring forward the philosophers as ex- 
ceptions, I answer that in them more especially 
there is presented a signal token of this one 
weakness. For there will not be found one of 
them that has not from that first principle of 
knowledge which I have mentioned straightway 
turned aside into extravagant and erroneous 
speculations, and for the most part they betray 
a silliness worse than that of old wives." 

One of our religious papers says that Eucken, 
of Jena, and Bergson, of Paris, are " leading the 
thought of the world to-day." These two 
philosophers are unbelievers. They are mfldels 
in the true Christian sense. If they are lead- 
ing the thought of the world, God pity the 
world! And so far as they are leading the 
thought of Christians in high places in the 
church, woe to the church! Jesus Christ, who 
was sent into the world to reveal unto us poor 
mortals the infinite, eternal, incomprehensible 
One as a Father, and to redeem us from our sins 
and miseries, must be a great thinker. I would 
judge so from his words and discourses recorded 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 43 

in the four Gospels. Yet we have Christian 
leaders who are accepting the thoughts of two 
infidel philosophers in preference to those of the 
Son of God. If we men of the twentieth century 
were Christians of the genuine stamp, we would 
be following the lead of the greatest thinker 
who ever walked the earth. Those men in the 
church who are following the philosophers and 
are ready to accept the latest " fad " in " Mod- 
ern Thought," imagine that all who read and 
think must think as they do. No, sirs ! No, 
sirs ! There are millions of us, thank God ! who 
have no confidence in the flesh, — that is, in the 
thinking of talented unbelievers. We prefer, 
and we ever shall prefer, to follow the lead of 
our Lord, the Great Teacher, in adopting a 
" philosophy of life and existence." 

I have found life too short to spend much of 
it in reading what unbelievers have to say about 
our holy religion. But as Eucken, the philoso^ 
pher, appears to be the idol of the rationalists, 
I have been reading one of his books to see 
what he thinks. I find that he is a very shrewd 
writer. He is well aware of what Christianity 
has accomplished in the world, even in the de- 
fective and often distorted form in which it has 
been presented by the church, and of the mighty 
hold it has at the present day upon the vast 
majority of thoughtful persons. It suits his 
purpose, therefore, to use the Christian termin- 



44 MIND AND SPIRIT 

ology, and to borrow the most beautiful and 
attractive parts of the Christian faith, in set- 
ting forth his views of the philosophy which the 
world, in his opinion, so badly needs. He 
agrees with Christians that our civilization is 
in a very bad condition. 

The President of the University of Chicago 
was reported, some time ago, to have said before 
a Baptist Convention that " the present age is 
the most decadent in history, with the exception 
of the days just before the fall of the Roman 
Empire and before the French Revolution." 
He said that " nothing can save this nation but 
a great social and political regeneration." A 
religious weekly, commenting on President Jud- 
son's remarks, was not sure that his statement 
was not a piece of rhetoric arising from the fear 
engendered by the many disclosures of immoral 
and criminal acts that were being everywhere 
made. " Yet," it went on to say, " the evil and 
the decadence is something awful. Sometimes 
it does look as if he were right — that the age 
had sunk into a quagmire of greed, and graft, 
and immoral life and thought, and the madness 
of national jealousies and racial hatreds. Pub- 
lic officers are falling as before a scythe. We 
have a divorce mill at Reno where anyone can 
get divorced for a few dollars; so free-love is 
made easy, and is being widely availed of. Im- 
moral plays claim many of our theaters. Our 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 45 

journalism is decadent and devoted to the gos- 
sip of crime. Our great cities are more and 
more given over to gluttony and drinking. We 
have a great crowd of idle rich and idle poor, 
both holding the respect of law very loosely. 
We have the spectacle of Germany and England 
arming to the teeth, and starving their people 
to do it." 

Now Eucken is aware of this being as true, on 
the whole, in Europe as it is in America. He 
has, he says, " a strong and painful conviction 
of the inadequacy and indeed the emptiness of 
modern civilization, in spite of all its outer os- 
tentation." 

Speaking of the great improvements brought 
about by discoveries in science, and by the en- 
ergetic spirit of the age, he says : " All these 
achievements do not help us to attain a joyous 
and assured sense of life : a pessimistic tone has 
become very widespread, and continually ex- 
tends further. How is it that with us work 
and happiness refuse to associate?" "All 
technical achievements do not preserve us from 
inner emptiness." " Thus with regard to the 
problem of truth we now find ourselves in an ex- 
tremely uncertain and confused position." 
After the hard study and laborious efforts of 
many " great thinkers " for twenty-five hundred 
years, the leading philosopher of the twentieth 
century says : " Philosophy is uncertain of 



46 MIND AND SPIRIT 

itself ; its work is dislocated, is divided into dif- 
ferent schools, each one of which, in order to 
maintain itself, thinks it necessary to refute all 
the others. This conflict threatens to remain 
unsettled and without result; it seems in the 
course of the centuries to grow rather than to 
diminish. The strife of the philosophers with 
one another has turned out to be so unsatisfac- 
tory and fruitless." " Philosophy is not only 
full of problems, but philosophy itself as a 
whole is and remains a problem." All this from 
the leading philosopher of the twentieth century 
ought to satisfy anyone that the tallow-candle 
of this world's philosophy has almost burnt out, 
and that there is nothing left of it but a little 
flicker. " The re-emergence of a philosophy of 
life and existence becomes an urgent require- 
ment in the complication and confusion of the 
present situation." You might suppose that a 
man who sees all this clearly would feel con- 
strained to accept the Christian remedy for this 
confusion of thought and for all the evils and 
miseries in the world. But far from it. He 
goes on to show the insufficiency of all the phi- 
losophy which the " great thinkers " have 
thought out up to this time; and he does this 
to clear the way for the remedy which he thinks 
he has discovered. He says : " Christianity has 
torn man away from the coherences of the world 
which encompassed him in antiquity, and the 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 47 

increased independence of the soul forbids a 
simple return. But he is no longer certain even 
of the Deity; in any case his relation to 
the Deity no longer controls the whole of 
life. In this situation where can he now turn 
to find truth, and what meaning can this 
conception still retain? In accordance with 
the experiences which we have described, man 
can seek truth nowhere else but in himself, his 
own life must possess the depth which ever for 
himself at first lies, a dim and distant back- 
ground: with the full appropriation of this 
depth, however, he may hope to discover a world 
in himself; or rather he may himself grow into 
a world." " The reason which is immanent in 
the human race must now take the place of the 
universe and the Deity." There you have it! 
The great philosopher's remedy for all the evils 
that afflict humanity is to be found in man him- 
self. No need for God, of whom the wise and 
good have always felt the need. No need for 
Jesus Christ as a Savior, nor for the great 
salvation which he died to secure for men! 
Sabatier, a French rationalist, published a large 
volume a few years ago in which he endeavored 
to show that authority in religion is not in the 
church and not in the Bible — but that it is in 
Christian consciousness. That amounts to the 
same thing with Eucken's teaching. Man is his 
own authority for what he believes and for what 



48 MIND AND SPIRIT 

he does. This falls in with the spirit of the age 
and the trend of thought. Here in America, 
especially, men are lovers and worshipers ofj 
money, and admirers and worshipers of " great 
men." It amounts to a deification of humanity, 
and is leading to a new sort of religion which has 
been called Humanism. This will explain some 
things. It shows, for instance, why boys and 
girls are taught that the human intellect is some- 
thing gigantic in the case of a favored few ; and 
why they are taught to look up to and admire 
" great men " as so many " wonders of the 
world " ; why modest yet studious young people 
are kept back and discouraged because they 
think their own minds are poor and weak and 
that great minds are confined to a privileged few ; 
why modest ministers of the gospel, who are fully 
conscious that many things are wrong in the 
churches and in the preaching of the day, are 
waiting for some " great leader " to appear to 
bring about the desired change. How much bet- 
ter it would be if they would follow their true 
leader, Jesus Christ, and do each one his " level 
best," in the power of the Holy Spirit, to ad- 
vance the kingdom of truth and righteousness 
upon earth ! 

In view of the immense and harmful influence 
philosophy has ever had in the Christian church, 
and of the singular attractions it has had for 
talented and ambitious " clergymen," how neces- 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 49 

sary and important is that warning given by the 
apostle Paul in writing to the church at Colosse, 
in which a false philosophy had already begun its 
deadly work, and which warning is more needed 
now in the twentieth century than it was in the 
first, " Take heed lest there shall be anyone that 
maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and 
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the 
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." 

There is another notable illustration in the 
rise and fall of Darwinism, of the weakness of 
the human intellect when trying to explain God, 
man, and the universe, while ignoring the divine 
revelation. " The Origin of Species " was pub- 
lished in 1859, and at once created a great stir 
in the world. Darwin, who was an admirable 
naturalist and a most amiable man, was religious 
in his early life. But he gave up all interest in 
religion, and in some other things that he had 
loved — music for instance — that he might 
give himself wholly to the study of nature. He 
will be remembered with honor in the scientific 
world on account of his services to natural sci- 
ence. But he made the stupendous blunder of 
believing that his theory of natural selection — 
struggle for existence, and survival of the fit- 
test — accounted for everything in the animated 
world. He believed that he had upset Christian- 
ity by his speculations. That did not trouble 
him in the least. On the other hand, he was de- 



50 MIND AND SPIRIT 

lighted with the reception his theory met with 
in Germany, where it was gulped down at once, 
and then in other countries. The way this the- 
ory " took " with the scientific world was one of 
the most extraordinary things in all history, and 
it is most instructive as to the limitations of the 
human intellect. Men in all professions and 
pursuits, especially all who did not like religion, 
as soon as they heard that a great man of science 
had made a wonderful discovery unfavorable to 
Christianity, accepted it, whether they under- 
stood it or not. Many ministers of the gospel, 
especially those who wanted to be considered 
intellectual and abreast of the times in their 
knowledge, accepted the new theory. It was so 
scientific and it was so popular that it must be 
true. I well remember the effect upon the 
churches and upon the preaching of many. It 
was noised abroad that the supernatural had dis- 
appeared; that the spiritual was gone forever; 
that miracles were impossible; and that such a 
thing as design was not to be found in all nature. 
And, oh ! the distress that all this gave to those 
who retained their common sense and their piety. 
Learned theologians in Germany who had 
adopted the Darwinian theory set themselves to 
work to reconstruct the Bible to make it har- 
monize with the great discovery of Darwin. 
They availed themselves of the idea which had 
been advanced by a French physician named 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 51 

Astruc (1684-1766), and originated what they 
called " the Higher Criticism of the Bible." 
Thus originated what is known as " the New 
Theology." It is based upon Darwinism and the 
Higher Criticism. And all this foolish talk in the 
magazines and newspapers about the " New 
Thought," " Modern Thought," and " the as- 
sured results of modern scholarship," may 
be traced back to Darwinism. And thus 
began and still continues the most wide- 
spread and lamentable apostasy from " the 
faith once delivered to the saints " with 
which the church has had to contend. Out- 
side of the churches great numbers of people 
seem to have lost their faith in Christianity be- 
cause they have learned that even some ministers 
are in doubt about the truth of the Bible and 
whether Jesus Christ was really what he claimed 
to be. And while Christians and the people of 
the world are discussing these questions, a per- 
fect carnival of vice and crime prevails in Chris- 
tian countries. 

While the world is running riot in its wicked- 
ness, and the " better classes " (as they call 
themselves) are wild with greed for money and 
the pleasures which money will buy, what has 
been going on among men of science? 

There were some scientists, like Sedgwick in 
England and Agassiz in America, who protested 
vigorously from the first against Darwin's the- 



m MIND AND SPIRIT 

ory. But their voice was not heeded amid the 
clamor of the world. Professor Sedgwick had 
been the instructor of Darwin at Cambridge, 
and was his warm personal friend. He wrote to 
him on the publication of his book : " I have 
read your book with more pain than pleasure. 
Parts of it I admired greatly, parts I laughed at 
till my sides were almost sore; other parts I 
read with absolute sorrow, because I think them 
utterly false and grievously mischievous." In 
an article written later, and published in the 
Spectator, Professor Sedgwick expressed himself 
thus : " I cannot conclude without expressing 
my detestation of the theory because of its un- 
flinching materialism, because it utterly repudi- 
ates final causes, and thereby indicates a de- 
moralized understanding on the part of its ad- 
vocates. ... I think it untrue because opposed 
to the obvious course of nature, and the very 
opposite of inductive truth. And I think it in- 
tensely mischievous." 

A few years passed, and they were years of 
conflict and of sad discouragement in the church 
of Christ. But in April, 1888, an eminent 
writer in the Edinburgh Review said : " Pure 
Darwinism has had its day: it is becoming old- 
fashioned, and, like every other heresy, has given 
birth to children destined to be its destroyer." 
This prediction has been fulfilled. Sir Thistle- 
ton Dyer, F. R. S., the eminent botanist, said in 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 53 

Nature for July 30, 1896: "The Darwinian 
theory of Organic Evolution seems hardly to 
have a convinced supporter left, except Mr. Al- 
fred R. Wallace and myself." And William 
Hanna Thompson, M. D., a distinguished sci- 
entist and writer, of New York City, in his 
"What is Physical Life? " quotes from fifteen 
prominent writers on scientific subjects, chiefly 
biological, — some in Europe, some in America, 
— who have no faith in Darwin's strange and 
atheistic theory. He says : " It is but the sim- 
ple truth to say that at present the opinion of 
such experts in all the different fields of biolog- 
ical research is preponderately adverse to the 
claims of the Darwinian theory, and is steadily 
growing more so." He says that Professor 
Oscar Hertwig, of Berlin, in his ponderous vol- 
ume on " Epigenesis," does not conceal his con- 
tempt for the Darwinian theory of natural se- 
lection ; also that Professor Von Hartmann says 
that in the first decade of the twentieth century it 
has become apparent that the " days of Darwin- 
ism are numbered." Among its latest opponents, 
besides many others, are such savants as Eimer, 
Professor of Zoology in the University of Tubin- 
gen; Gustave Wolff; De Vries, Professor of 
Botany in the University of Amsterdam ; Hooche 
and Fleischmann. Professor Fleischmann, of 
\he University of Erlangen, maintains that the 
Darwinian theory of descent has not a single 



54 MIND AND SPIRIT 

fact to confirm it in the realm of nature; that 
it is " not the result of scientific research, but 
purely the product of the imagination." Pro- 
fessor G. Henslow, F. R. S., says in Nineteenth 
Century and After, for November, 1906: " It 
is now half a century since Darwin's work on 
" The Origin of Species by Natural Descent " 
has been published. Up to the present day it is 
an indisputable fact that not a single variety or 
species of any wild animal or plant has ever been 
proved to have had its origin by means of natural 
selection." " Among American biologists the 
opponents of the theory of natural selection are 
no less numerous." For instance, Professor V. 
L. Kellogg, of the Leland Stanford University 
of California, in his elaborate work entitled 
" Darwinism To-day," says : " Men using or 
rather testing these theories every day in their 
work in field and laboratory find selection insuffi- 
cient to explain the conditions that their observ- 
ation and experiments reveal to them. These 
men are students in all the lines of biological 
work whether zoologists, botanists, paleontolo- 
gists, or animal and plant breeders. From all 
these lines of work come increasing complaints. 
* Selection cannot explain for me what I see to 
exist.' From some the cry is more bitter : ' Se- 
lection is a delusion and false guide. I reject it 
utterly.' For me, I repeat, this is an objection 
of much significance and importance, that the 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 55 

biological experimentalists, the students of vari- 
ation and heredity, of life mechanics, are finding 
the rigid theory of selection's control of all proc- 
esses and phenomena a rack on which they will 
no longer be bound." Professor H. F. Osborn, 
of Columbia University, at a meeting held on the 
centenary of Darwin's birth, said: "There is 
no denying that there is to-day a wide reaction 
against the central feature of Darwin's 
thought," while he went on to eulogize Darwin as 
a naturalist. 

" These criticisms of Darwinism," says Dr. 
Thomson, " do not come from amateurs, but 
from qualified experts. It is to be regretted that 
some of them, especially in Germany, show that 
there can be as acrid an odium scientificwm as 
ever there was an odium theologicum, for one 
professor intimates that there can be no Dar- 
winian except he be afflicted with a congenital in- 
ability to think clearly ; while another says that 
a believer in natural selection must have soften- 
ing of the brain." 

Now in contrast with the view now taken of 
Darwin and his dream, let us go back for a mo- 
ment to the time when it was first published to 
the world. Sir Robert Ball, an eminent astron- 
omer, was delighted with this infidel and atheistic 
way of accounting for all things. He goes off 
in the most " highf alutin " style: "The life- 
less earth is the canvas on which has been drawn 



56 MIND AND SPIRIT 

the noblest picture that modern science has pro- 
duced. It is Darwin who has drawn this pic- 
ture. He has taken up the history of the earth 
where the astronomer left it, and he has made 
discoveries which have influenced thought and 
opinion more than any other discoveries that 
have been made for centuries. . . . The method 
Darwin adopts is of the most captivating sim- 
plicity. When the history of science in our 
century comes to be written, the interest will 
culminate in the supreme discovery of natural 
selection." He goes on in the same style; and 
guesses that very little is needed now to suppose 
that life had a spontaneous origin from matter. 
" We have but little more to demand of the the- 
ory of spontaneous generation. The more we 
study the nature of matter, the less improbable 
will it seem that organic beings should have so 
originated." 

How grand and glorious is true science — the 
science of Newton, Galileo, the Herschells, Pro- 
fessor Henry, Asa Gray, and a host of others, 
who have studied nature and made discoveries 
for the glory of God and the uplift of man! 
But the science whose aim is to discredit the rev- 
elation made in Holy Writ, the revelation which 
teaches us that the eternal God is our Father, 
and that Jesus Christ is our Savior from sin and 
misery — what is that but science gone mad, or, 
as Lawson would say, " frenzied " science? 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 57 

There is nothing formidable in the word evo^ 
lution. It only means development ; and it was 
known and written about long before Darwin was 
born. It is generally accepted as a principle 
or law in the processes of nature and of life. 
When there is anything to develop, or evolve, 
there will always be development or evolution. 
Evolution, in the true and proper sense of the 
term, requires a Creator to produce the material 
to be evolved. The law of evolution demands a 
Lawgiver to establish the law. He who is in all 
and over all, whose prerogative it is to bring 
good out of evil, order out of confusion, and 
light out of darkness, will bring good out of the 
evil wrought by Darwin's mischievous mistake. 
The subject of evolution will be better under- 
stood. The preparation of the earth for man's 
abode, carried on gradually during long ages, is 
clearly seen to be the truth, and takes the place, 
in the sum of our knowledge, of the former idea 
of an instantaneous creation. The immanence 
of the Divine Creator in all his creatures and 
works is an old Bible truth ; but the theistic evo- 
lutionists have made much of it, as though it 
had originated with them. The divine imma- 
nence taught in the Scriptures is neither pan- 
theism nor monism. It differs from the imma- 
nence of theistic evolution as far as light differs 
from darkness. 

There is a bare possibility that man is 



58 MIND AND SPIRIT 

ascended from the animals, so far as his body 
and mentality are concerned. I do not believe 
that it can ever be demonstrated. But even if 
it should eventually prove to be true, it would 
only render the more necessary and the more 
glorious the revealed truth that every human be- 
ing needs to be born anew — to be born of the 
Spirit, and thus to be endowed with spiritual 
life. 

Let no one fail to notice that Mr. Darwin, 
who spent his time and used his splendid gifts in 
trying to prove that we do not need God, or his 
Son Jesus Christ, and who occasioned the great 
falling away from the faith during the latter half 
of the nineteenth century, became a very restless 
and unhappy man when he was not much more 
than seventy. He wrote : " I am rather de- 
spondent about myself. ... I have not the 
heart or strength to begin any investigation last- 
ing years, which is the only thing I enjoy, and 
I have no little job which I can do. Everything 
tires me, even seeing scenery. . . . What I shall 
do with my few remaining years of life, I can 
hardly tell. I have everything to make me 
happy and contented, but life has become very 
wearisome to me." He had wealth, fame, troops 
of friends, and a loving family, but he was rest- 
less and unhappy. The poor man did not know 
what ailed him. But every true Christian 
knows. 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 59 

Oh, how gloriously different it is with the 
sincere Christian who is laying down the work 
of life and approaching the Celestial City! 
Blessed is the man who as he grows old is sus- 
tained, day by day, by a faith, a love, a hope, 
an anticipation, that make it an unceasing and 
increasing joy to live. Life here is a joy, for he 
can help many ; and to die is gain, for to depart 
and be with Christ, whom he has long loved and 
longed to see — this is " far better." 

Ignorance of the fact that there is in hu- 
man nature a spiritual as well as an intellectual 
side has been a tremendous mistake on the part 
of preachers of the Gospel. It has made the 
work of the pastor and the experience of the 
people, in very many cases, defective and un- 
satisfactory. The pastor has, as a rule, de- 
pended on influencing his hearer through his 
intellect, whereas the regenerated portion of his 
people must be reached through the spirit, and 
a lost sinner can be arrested in his course, con- 
victed of his sins, and made to feel his need of 
a divine Savior, only through his conscience. 
The minister needs to be well acquainted with 
the distinction between mind and spirit for his 
own personal benefit as well as for that of his 
people. 

Doctor Thomas H. Skinner, an able and suc- 
cessful theological professor, in his " Aids to 
Preaching and Hearing," spoke in these terms : 



60 MIND AND SPIRIT 

" There should be maintained a discipline of 
sentiment and feeling, as well as of intellect, 
with reference to power in speaking. There 
are certain spiritual affections and habitudes 
of mind which should receive at least equal cul- 
tivation with the intellectual powers called into 
requisition. It was the frame of his soul, as 
much as his doctrine, which caused it to be said 
of Jesus Christ, ' Never man spake like this 
man.' His doctrine was not superior to that 
of the apostles ; it was the purity of feeling, 
the love of truth, the deep sense of eternal 
things, the benevolence for men, the zeal for 
God, which filled the soul of our Savior, that 
imparts such resistless power to his utterances. 
It was this that made his doctrine itself so re- 
markable. Whitefield, the greatest of modern 
preachers, used to prepare himself for the 
pulpit, not so much by arranging his thoughts 
and studying his expressions and his actions, 
for which he was so remarkable, as by bathing 
his spirit in heavenly influences. It was the 
agony of prayer more than the agony of 
thought that made his eloquence the wonder of 
his time. This is a matter of the deepest mo- 
ment to the interests of religion, and the day 
is coming when it will be so esteemed by the 
ministry. The universal spread of the Gospel 
will be preceded by the labors of a ministry 
not less learned nor less given to study and 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 61 

elaborate writing than their predecessors, but 
more like the apostles in the business of disci- 
plining the heart with direct reference to the 
exercises of addressing assemblies of men in 
the name of Heaven. 

" A minister who appears in the pulpit, not 
to meet a professional call, but to speak to his 
fellow-creatures on the infinite affairs of eter- 
nity, impressed more by the divine presence 
than by that of the assembly; so subdued and 
pervaded by the powers of his subject that he 
can have no concern about the opinions of men ; 
jealous, not for his own reputation, but for the 
cause of truth and of human salvation ; relying, 
not on himself, however well prepared for his 
work, but on the secret influences of the Holy 
Spirit ; and assured that his message, however 
received, will not be a vain one, nor return 
void to him by whom he was commissioned to 
deliver it — a minister who preaches with his 
soul exercised by such sentiments and emotions, 
will, without fail, preach with the purest elo- 
quence and with irresistible power. 

" There are too many preachers who are care- 
ful to make all that preparation for the pulpit 
which will secure them against a loss of reputa- 
tion for intellect and knowledge, who yet leave 
this more important part of the preparatory 
work greatly neglected. Hence, doubtless, 
more than from every cause besides, the differ- 



62 MIND AND SPIRIT 

ence in result between modern and apostolical 
preaching. We have no account of an em- 
inently successful preacher in any age who did 
not give his chief concern, in preparing for the 
pulpit, to the preparation of his heart. Let 
those who would understand well the elements of 
pulpit-power, examine into the matter in the 
light which the biographies of such men as 
Flavel, Baxter, and Whitefield reflect upon it. 
Luther remarked, after having nearly finished 
his great course of service, " I am now an old 
man, and have been a long time employed in the 
business of preaching; but I never ascend the 
pulpit without trembling." 

I have given this as a specimen of the way 
in which earnest and spiritually-minded min- 
isters have always addressed young men pre- 
paring for the ministry. I submit it as a self- 
evident proposition that if every minister and 
every candidate for the ministry knew that he 
had a spirit as well as an intellect, and that 
the spirit is the higher and nobler and more im- 
portant part of human nature, the effect would 
be most happy upon the ministry, upon preach- 
ing, and upon those who hear the Gospel. 

That this distinction between mind and spirit 
has not been generally made by preachers of 
the Gospel I know from the fact that in my long 
experience I cannot recall an instance of hav- 
ing heard it made. Reading recently " Some 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 63 

By-Products of Missions," by the Rev. I. T. 
Headland, Ph. D., 'an eminent missionary to 
China, and an able preacher and lecturer here 
at home, I met with a confirmation of my state- 
ment. Chapters X and XI of the book were 
of special interest to me, treating as they do 
of this very subject of mind and spirit. Dr. 
Headland tells of his meeting with a scientist — 
a physiological psychologist — when their con- 
versation turned upon the subject of education. 
The scientist remarked that " so far as a 
thorough education is concerned our educational 
system (in the U. S.) is very incomplete. 
Most of the schools," he said, " pay no attention 
to the moral and spiritual development of the 
students, though these, or either of them, is of 
more importance than the education of the in- 
tellect, while both of them are totally disre- 
garded by the schools." Dr. Headland re- 
plied : " I have always thought of the intellec- 
tual development as being the most important 
of all." " So have most people," added the 
scientist, " and that is where the trouble lies. 
But is our relation to things as important as 
our relation to our fellow-men? . . . You 
know of young men who spend four years of 
study in the university trying to understand 
and be able to manipulate the laws of electricity 
and become electrical engineers. But did you 
ever hear of a man going into college and spend- 



64 MIND AND SPIRIT 

ing four years in an effort to understand and 
be able to operate the moral laws? What we 
want as a result of our college work is a greater 
number of moral engineers! Our moral na- 
ture is higher than our intellectual nature, and 
more difficult to develop; and hence we have 
scarcely begun upon it, not to say anything of 
our spiritual nature." 

I will quote further from the remarks of this 
scientist, because he seems to be so near the 
truth as to the constitution of human nature. 
" In my judgment," he went on to say, " we 
are a race of reasoning or thinking monstrosi- 
ties, and of moral and spiritual pigmies. We 
think, think, think ; there is no problem too 
big for us to undertake. We are ready to 
spend our lives boring down to a last little 
analysis of some problem in chemistry or 
physics, or rooting out some new element, or 
ferreting out some new power of nature; but 
how much of the time spent in our education 
is put on the development of a conscience that 
is sensitive to the slightest variation from the 
laws of rectitude and the rules of honesty? If 
there were as much time and effort spent on 
the development of a sensitive conscience as 
there is on the manufacture of a sensitive ther- 
mometer, the world would be better than it is 
to-day. Who by searching, thinking, reason- 
ing, can find out God? Spiritual problems 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 65 

must be solved by spiritual faculties. No man 
could solve a problem in Euclid by faith. Nor 
could anyone solve a spiritual problem by rea- 
son. Reason links the thinking man with 
things. Conscience links the moral man with 
his fellow-men. Faith links the religious man 
with God." 

" According to this, then," said Dr. Head- 
land, " we are only one-third developed." 

" Quite right," replied the scientist, " and 
that the lowest third." 

Dr. Headland was so far profited by this con- 
versation that when he afterwards visited one 
of our state universities and was conversing 
with one of the leading professors, he had an 
opportunity, which he embraced, of opening 
the eyes of the professor to the fact that the 
so-called education of the day is exceedingly 
defective and imperfect. 

This talk of Dr. Headland and the scientist 
reminds me of the fact that Bergson, the 
French idol of the day, has in some way dis- 
covered the same truth about the human mind. 
Mr. Joseph McCabe, the English rationalist, 
in criticizing Bergson in the Literary Guide 
(London), says: "The original and pro- 
foundly revolutionary feature of the new 
thinkers' campaign is that, from Plato to 
Bradley and Bosanquet, all the philosophers of 
all ages have been using an instrument of 



66 MIND AND SPIRIT 

thought that was never intended for the use of 
philosophers at all, but of engineers and such 
lower folk. In a word, he says that reason, in- 
tellect, or logic is the wrong spiritual eye to 
use in the search for truth. Its proper object 
is material reality ; its distinctive quality is that 
it is essentially superficial; its proper purpose 
is to be used in practical matters, like making 
bridges. 

" In this fundamental and most prominent 
feature of the Bergsonian creed, which is at- 
tracting attention the world over, we have a 
revolution in philosophy quite parallel to the 
French Revolution in politics. He says flatly, 
repeatedly, emphatically, that intellect is essen- 
tially superficial, not profound ; is fitted only to 
deal with practical, not speculative matters, and 
must be discarded in the investigation of such 
subjects as the nature, origin, and destiny of 
the human mind. This is not a deduction from 
Bergsonism, but the essence and first message 
of it." 

This admission on the part of a philosopher 
and a scientist that reason is wholly inadequate 
to deal with spiritual things will be of great 
use to the friends of revealed religion if they are 
wide enough awake to make use of it. 

So that there is in human nature a spiritual 
as well as an intellectual part, and the intellect, 
while indispensable in all human affairs, is not 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 67 

so great and grand as the spirit which links 
man with God and eternity. 

To educate youth in state universities and 
in the public schools of some of our cities with- 
out any reference to the living God, or to the 
Lord Jesus Christ, or to the Book of books, is 
to mislead and defraud them: it is to rob them 
of the grandest inheritance God ever prepared 
for and set before the youth of any nation — 
I refer to the unlimited resources of our vast 
and beautiful country and to the religion re- 
vealed in the Bible — a religion which gave us 
our free institutions, and which is the only 
guarantee we have for their stability and per- 
manence. If we become a more truly Chris- 
tian people, the ever-increasing wealth of the 
country will be a blessing. If we continue to 
deteriorate religiously and morally as we have 
been doing, our wealth will, according to the 
teachings of history and the Scriptures, prove 
an awful curse, and will surely cause the down- 
fall of the Republic. 

Both church and state are suffering. Our 
greatest troubles and perils, in our churches 
and in our public affairs, are owing to the fact 
that our young people, the great mass of them, 
are passing through their educational period 
without receiving any true education, and are 
going out into life wholly unprepared for what 
is before them. Need we be surprised that 



68 MIND AND SPIRIT 

when the spiritual is ignored and the merely 
mental is emphasized and extolled in schools and 
colleges, young people are issuing from them, 
each year, who depend upon their wits for a 
living and for their happiness ; and who, when 
disappointment and trouble come to them in 
some wholly unexpected form, have no strength 
of character, no fear of God, no Christian faith 
to sustain them, but are ready at once, like 
poor, ignorant, reckless fools as they are, to 
resort to suicide? 

Nowadays a young fellow who cannot get the 
girl whom he fancies for his wife, or who is 
tired of the frivolous creature whom he has 
married, takes a revolver and murders her, and 
then turns and kills himself. No one need be 
surprised that this is becoming almost a daily 
occurrence. For such a youth has no proper 
conception of who or what God is, or of who or 
what the Lord Jesus Christ was and why he 
came into our world, or of what it is to rush 
by self-murder into the presence of God and 
into the scenes and realities of the eternal 
world. Who are most to be blamed for this 
shocking state of things — the ignorant and 
reckless youth, or the parents and the teachers 
who permitted him to grow up without any 
knowledge of what true religion is, and of the 
morality which is based upon religious faith, 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 69 

and of the tremendous realities of a future life 
and judgment? 

Ought we to be surprised that young men 
are issuing in great numbers from state uni- 
versities and professional schools in which our 
Lord and the spiritual side of human nature 
are ignored, who soon show that when the mental 
side only has been developed and trained, the 
result is, in so many cases, an educated selfish- 
ness and an expert rascality? 

How frequently is the remark heard : " The 
man is smart enough, but he has no heart ; " 
or, " He is very sharp, but he is of a low, mean 
spirit ; " or, " The man's intellect is as sharp 
and keen as a razor, but his character is bad." 
Ah! my dear reader, a great heart, a noble 
spirit, a pure and well-rounded character — 
this, which is the result of developing and cul- 
tivating the spiritual in man, is far, far better 
and infinitely more to be desired than a bright, 
keen intellect without the pure heart, the noble 
spirit, the Christian character. 

Does some one ask, " Is it not the function 
of the church and of the Bible School to attend 
to the spiritual interests of the people? " 
Yes, it is ; but not theirs alone. Alas ! alas ! 
what can the perfunctory and lifeless preach- 
ing which is so often heard, and the half-hour 
or three-quarters of an hour once in a week 



70 MIND AND SPIRIT 

spent in going over a Bible lesson, often unin- 
telligently — what can this effect as an offset 
to the powerful and controlling influence of 
five or six days in the week spent in the earnest 
study of books, and in listening to accomplished 
and admired teachers that have nothing what- 
ever to say about the most interesting and im- 
portant things of life? 

The rationalism prevailing in our " great " 
universities is one of our greatest perils. From 
the universities it passes into the theological 
seminaries. There it corrupts theology, and 
weakens and disables those who are going out 
to be ministers. It infects and taints our cur- 
rent literature. It has nearly destroyed poetry. 
Fiction has nearly exhausted its resources. It 
threatens to destroy the sweetness, the charm, 
the romance of life. The great city dailies, 
which are read everywhere, are nearly all in- 
fected and permeated by it, so far as their edi- 
torials are concerned. The magazines all seem 
to welcome it. In all these ways the dry rot 
of rationalism is endeavoring to eat the life out 
of the church of the living God. If the truth 
revealed in Scripture were not divinely guarded 
and preserved, it would have disappeared long 
ere this, so many are its enemies. Rationalists 
regard it as " foolishness " ; they absolutely hate 
it. Rationalism is not only corrupting and 
disabling the church, but it is thereby under- 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 71 

mining our free institutions. The " thinkers " 
who are hard at work in ethics and sociology 
are always talking of the serious problems which 
confront them. We are tired of hearing about 
their " problems." We look for problems in 
mathematics, but there ought not to be any 
in social science. Accept the truth God has 
given in the Bible, follow the directions given — 
or rather obey the orders of Him who made 
us all — and problems will disappear. There 
is a true philosophy, a true psychology, a true 
ethics, and a true sociology. Each true science 
comes from the exercise of human reason in 
reverent submission to the revealed will of God. 
He has made known the general principles on 
which we are to act in society and under gov- 
ernment. Obedience to his will, as made known 
to all men, will guide us in the way of wisdom 
and safety, and protect us all from error and 
confusion. Truth is simple, and easily appre- 
hended by any earnest student. But all this 
confused and conflicting ratiocination, carried 
on apart from any standard of truth and right- 
eousness, is misleading and harmful. It is mere 
mind-stuff, and bears about the same relation 
to the truth revealed that moonshine does to 
the noonday effulgence of the sun. No wonder 
that the student is perplexed, bewildered, and 
misled. He is often tormented in trying to 
understand the books to which he is referred, 



72 MIND AND SPIRIT 

and life becomes a weariness to him. I have 
heard it said that Dr. McCosh, the Christian 
philosopher of Princeton, was one day reading 
Hegel. He became impatient, and angrily 
threw the volume across the room, exclaiming: 
" I do not understand him, and I don't believe 
he understood himself." How often the in- 
genuous student, thirsting for knowledge, might 
say the same thing of the book he has been ad- 
vised to read. He would be wise if he followed 
the example of Dr. McCosh, and threw the 
book aside in disgust. 

The study and apprehension of truth; the 
learning how to harmonize the discoveries of 
science with the statements of Scripture; the 
wonder and delight of making new discoveries, 
of having ever enlarging views, ever widening 
areas of knowledge — this ought to make a 
student's life an unceasing and ever-increasing 
pleasure and joy. But between wrong ideals 
and wrong methods how few students find this 
enjoyment. Some of them try to find pleasure 
and joy in forbidden paths. Of course that 
soon makes life worse to them than it was be- 
fore. 

I have been looking through the last annual 
catalogues of the richly-endowed and largely- 
attended universities of our country. They 
all have a long story to tell of the wonderful 
variety of studies, the endless list of 'ologies 



THE TRUE PSYCHOLOGY 73 

of which the prospective student may acquire 
a knowledge by coming to them. But I did 
not find one that, from cover to cover, recog- 
nized even the existence of the living God, or 
had a word to say about Jesus Christ, the Great 
Master, the Divine Teacher — I suppose they 
are all aping Harvard, because it is the oldest 
of them, and very rich and largely attended. 
Dr. Berle, an eminent minister of Boston, has 
this to say of Harvard in the Bibliotheca Sacra: 
" Religion, forming so large a part of the life 
of mankind, has held a very small, and in some 
respects despicable place at Harvard, not be- 
cause there was no religion, but because but 
few of the commanding figures in the University 
manifested any interest in it." 

One of the greater lights of Harvard issued 
a pronunciamento not long since for the en- 
lightenment of the American people. It ap- 
peared to be the climax of the wisdom he had 
gained by a life of laborious study and reflec- 
tion. The substance of it was that the thing 
needed by the people of this country is to drink 
more beer! 

In the catalogue of a small college in the 
Central West I find a statement which forms 
a delightful contrast to the agnosticism of those 
rich and pampered universities to which I have 
referred. The statement is : " — College does 
not seek to develop the mind alone, but 



74 MIND AND SPIRIT 

believing that education consists of more than 
mere intellectual training, strives to bring to 
the highest possible state of development the 
threefold nature of man — spirit, mind, and 
body; and believing that spiritual interests are 
always paramount, the institution carefully sur- 
rounds her students with Christian influences." 
Now I do not hesitate to declare that it is my 
profound conviction that that little Indiana 
College, if true to its published principles, will 
render a greater and better service to the re- 
public, to the church of the living God, and to 
mankind, than all those universities put to- 
gether, the poisonous nature of some of whose 
teachings was exposed by Herman Bolce in the 
Cosmopolitan Magazine. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE SECOND BIRTH AND THE NEW 
LIFE 

The doctrine of the New Birth is one of the 
vital and essential truths of Christianity. It 
was taught most clearly and emphatically by 
our Lord himself in his conversation with 
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. " Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, except one be born anew, 
he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which 
is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that 
I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew." John 
S :3, 6, 7. In the Scriptures the true Christian 
is called a new man. The new man is put in 
opposition to the old man; the spiritual man 
to the natural man. We read of the first man 
and of the second man. Paul says, " That is 
not first which is spiritual, but that which is. 
natural ; then that which is spiritual. The first 
man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is 
of heaven." John speaks of it thus : " Who- 
soever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born 
of God." And again, " We know that whoso- 

75 



76 MIND AND SPIRIT 

ever is born of God sinneth not ; but he that is 
begotten of God keepeth himself, and that 
wicked one toucheth him not." And again, 
" Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh 
the world." In the Scriptures it is not all men 
who are called the children of God, but only 
those who have been begotten of God and been 
born a second time. 

When God created man, he created him in his 
own image, after his own likeness. Now that 
must refer to the spirit which he gave to him, 
or breathed into him, for the human body does 
not reflect the image of God, who is a spirit and 
has not a body like man. Nor does the mind 
or mere intelligence, in which the more sagacious 
of the animals share, reflect the image and like- 
ness of God. The mind of man reflects the 
image of Deity very partially, if at all. We 
cannot think of the intellect of a man being 
like that of his Maker. The Divine Being does 
not think or reason as a man does. In our rea- 
soning process we proceed slowly. We have first 
to gather our facts ; we draw our conclusions 
afterwards. We ascend from particulars to 
generals. We abstract some ideas. We as- 
sociate others. We eliminate errors, if there 
be any. And thus we endeavor to arrive at the 
truth of a proposition. But the mental acts 
by which we do this cannot be attributed to the 
Infinite Intelligence which is in us and around 



SECOND BIRTH AND NEW LIFE 77 

us, and throughout, and over, and above the 
created universe. To the mind of God all 
things, all truths, all events are present. All 
of the past, all of the present, and all of the 
future is before the mind of God at once. 
With him there is an eternal Now. So that 
if man was created like God, it must have 
been in spirit. If he becomes like God again, 
it must be in spirit. Man as a thinking, rea- 
soning being is the creature of God, not his off- 
spring. In the Scriptures God is called, not 
the " Father of intellects," but the " Father of 
spirits." It is as a spirit that the regenerated 
man, begotten of God and born from above, be- 
comes the child of God and grows to become 
like him. 

When our first parents sinned, they fell away 
from God. Falling into sin they fell away from 
holiness, peace, and happiness. In the fall the 
spirit was that part of human nature which was 
directly affected, for it was the connecting link 
between God and man; and through the en- 
trance of sin it received a terrible shock, and was 
paralyzed. And ever since that great catas- 
trophe, in the natural man, and that is in every 
person born into this world except Jesus of 
Nazareth, the spirit has been dead — dead in 
a Scriptural sense of that word. Our Lord 
sent a message through his servant John to the 
church of Sardis, in which he pronounced it a 



78 MIND AND SPIRIT 

dead church. But it is evident that there was 
some life left in it. For he said, " Remember, 
and hold fast, and repent. . . . Thou hast a 
few names even in Sardis which have not defiled 
their garments." So it is with the spirit in 
man, which was deadened by the entrance of 
sin. It was not utterly destroyed. What re- 
mains of the spirit is called the conscience. In 
the natural man this conscience, with the will, 
the affections, and emotions, is what may be re- 
garded provisionally as the spiritual part of his 
nature. But it must not be lost sight of that 
the Scriptures represent the natural man as 
without the spirit, and the regenerated person 
as possessed of the spirit. 

Those who remain in their unregenerate, 
psychical state are, in the scriptural sense, un- 
acquainted with God. They may be very in- 
tellectual, very moral, very esthetic, and highly 
cultivated. But their intelligence and sensi- 
bilities are the same in kind with those of the 
more intelligent animals, only differing in de- 
gree in that they are far more highly developed. 
They are destitute of the pnewna save in the 
rudimentary form of conscience. It is forever 
true, as the apostle Paul emphatically declared 
in writing to the Corinthians : " The psychical 
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of 
God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither 



SECOND BIRTH AND NEW LIFE 79 

can he know them, because they are pneumatic- 
ally discerned." 

Men who are ignorant of the true character 
of God because they have not been renewed by 1 
his Spirit, and have no spiritual union with 
Christ and consequently have no adequate sym- 
pathy with him in his stupendous work, may in 
some instances be more acute and powerful in 
intellect, acquainted with a larger number of 
facts in history, science, and art ; may be more 
refined in manners, than many — it may be, than 
most — of the true children of God. But they 
do not, and cannot, apprehend spiritual things ; 
they do not — and cannot — appreciate the 
unique and marvelous personality of Jesus 
Christ ; they cannot be uplifted into sweet and 
holy fellowship with saints and angels and with 
God himself, until they have been born into the 
spiritual realm by the effectual working of the 
Holy Spirit. 

And are there not many excellent people out 
of the church, and out of Christ, so morally good 
that Jesus would love them, but yet would have 
to say to each one of them what he said to the 
rich young man who was morally good and 
personally lovable: " One thing thou lackest " ? 
If all of this large class of people were in- 
formed, clearly and tenderly, of just what they 
lack, and why they lack it, and how they may 
obtain it, I have not a doubt that the general 






80 MIND AND SPIRIT 

revival of religious interest for which all earn- 
est Christians are praying would be greatly 
hastened in its coming. 

The " great salvation," purchased for us by 
Christ upon the cross, is applied to man as a 
guilty sinner first of all, and mainly by means 
of the conscience. The preacher of the 
Gospel, to do any real spiritual good to his 
hearers, must reach their consciences. He 
may appeal to their intelligence for a lifetime, 
and not bring one of them to repentance and to 
Christ. He may persuade many of them to 
join the church. He can prove to them that 
it will be to their advantage to be in the church. 
But he cannot convert one of them spiritually, 
that is, in the Bible sense, unless he can reach, 
^awaken, and alarm his conscience. When a 
sinner's conscience has been awakened, quick- 
ened, and enlightened, and he, in his distress, 
looks to the Lord Jesus Christ as a Divine 
Savior; when he surrenders himself unre- 
servedly and gladly receives Christ, offering 
himself freely to the penitent sinner — in that 
act of the sinner, produced by the work of 
the Spirit of God, the spirit is rehabilitated 
within him. This change, called the new birth, 
or the change of heart, is the one most urgent 
need of our fallen humanity. It is the great- 
est desideratum in human life and experience. 
When a human spirit is, by divine grace and 



SECOND BIRTH AND NEW LIFE 81 

by an act of the Holy Spirit, resuscitated and 
re-established, the person thus regenerated be- 
comes, what our first parents were before they 
fell, a son or a daughter of the Lord Almighty. 
The image and likeness of God which man pos- 
sessed before the fall is restored by the new 
birth — but not by the new birth alone, but 
by it and the new life and growth which fol- 
low. This grand change is not and cannot be 
brought about by religious instruction merely, 
or by moral training merely, or by the finest 
educational advantages merely. The change of 
heart is a radical one. It is a change of dis- 
position, a change of inclination, so that to 
choose and prefer the highest and best things 
becomes a " second nature." To love the 
persons and the things we did not love be- 
fore becomes a pleasure and a joy. And 
this wondrous change is the work of Almighty 
God, working by his Holy Spirit upon a hu- 
man spirit which thus far has been dormant 
and virtually dead. As Henry Drummond, so 
gifted both as a Christian and as a scientist, 
said : " Spiritual life is the gift of the living 
Spirit. The spiritual man is no mere develop- 
ment of the natural man. He is a new crea- 
tion from above." 

When once the spirit has been enshrined in 
the soul by an act of God, the intellectual and 
the spiritual become interfused. Henceforth 



82 MIND AND SPIRIT 

they cannot be separated. The mind is spirit- 
ualized. Every faculty or function of it is in- 
fluenced more or less. The person becomes 
spiritually-minded. And there is thenceforth 
a conflict between the merely intellectual and 
the truly spiritual as to which shall dominate 
the soul. Everyone who has been born anew 
knows what that conflict is. The Christian 
business man knows what it is. His mind or 
intelligence says to him : "If you do so and 
so, you will gain a great advantage over your 
competitors, and you will make a great deal 
of money." But a still, small voice whispers: 
" Better not do it ; better not. You will re- 
gret it if you do. God sees you, and will be 
displeased with you if you yield to the tempta- 
tion." The young man and young woman, 
glowing with youthful life and love, know what 
this conflict is between their intelligence and 
their conscience, that is, their spirit, which has 
become an active factor in their inner life. 
The spiritual life becomes more and more dom- 
inant just in proportion as the means of grace 
and of growth in a pure and holy life are 
faithfully used. 

So, you see, Christianity is a spiritual re- 
ligion. That unique and wonderful Book in 
which we find our religion, reveals a spiritual 
world. It is a realm more grand and sublime 
than this in which we are living. It is full 



SECOND BIRTH AND NEW LIFE 88 

of wonders and delights. It is more satisfy- 
ing and inspiring, and will — unlike the pres- 
ent shifting, changeful and passing world — 
be abiding and permanent. That Book makes 
known the way by which one is introduced 
into that realm. It is by being born anew. 
The spiritual truth contained in the Bible is 
the means employed by the Holy Spirit in 
regenerating us and so causing us to enter 
upon the spiritual life. The Bible describes 
the way of living by which we may be prepared 
to dwell blissfully in that realm forever. 
The study of the Book endows us with spiritual 
discernment. It teaches us how to live in the 
Spirit. It qualifies us for worshiping God 
in spirit and in truth. It qualifies us for liv- 
ing the happiest and most useful life in this 
world, and it sooner or later brings faithful 
Christians to dwell among the " spirits of just 
men made perfect." 

Our religion is preeminently a spiritual one, 
because we live under the dispensation of the 
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the efficient 
agent in carrying out the great redemptive 
work of the Son of God. All life begins with 
birth: natural life with a natural birth: spirit- 
ual life with a spiritual birth. By the first 
birth we are children of Adam; by the second 
birth we are children of God. The church, 
with its ordinances, has been established and 



84 MIND AND SPIRIT 

preserved by the Lord for the culture of the 
new life. New hopes, new affections, new 
joys, spring up. In a scriptural sense " old 
things pass away and all things become new." 
There is an expulsive power in the new affec- 
tion for Christ which fills and warms the heart. 
And there is a mighty uplifting force in the 
new motives which stir the soul and rouse the 
believer to action. The child of God loves God 
and whatever God loves, and hates whatever 
God hates. He loves his word, his day, his 
house, his worship, his people. He hates 
sin, and he hates error which leads to sin. The 
extension over the earth of the kingdom of 
Christ, which is a kingdom of righteousness, 
peace and love, depends on the special pres- 
ence and effectual working of the Holy Spirit, 
and the spiritual attainments and active ef- 
forts of believers in Jesus. There has been, 
from an early period, a large section of the 
church which has been content with outward 
ceremonies and priestly performances. At 
the present time there is a tendency, even in 
Protestant churches, to introduce something to 
please the eye and tickle the senses ; something 
to draw and entertain audiences; something to 
fill vacant souls with pleasurable sensations. 
Sensational programs are announced — with 
pulpit oratory, operatic music, and the like. 
This is far from a wholesome tendency. Spec- 



SECOND BIRTH AND NEW LIFE 85 

tacular religion is not the genuine article. 
" The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, 
but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
Holy Spirit." 

Does the reader ask : " How is this great- 
est blessing in life, this change of heart, this 
resuscitation of the spirit, to be obtained?" 
The Bible makes known very clearly when and 
how the change ordinarily occurs. For ex- 
ample, in John 1 :13 we are told that it is in 
the act of receiving Christ as our Divine Re- 
deemer and gracious Lord and Master that one 
is born anew and becomes a child of God. We 
are there told that as many as receive Christ, 
even to them that believe on his name, is the 
privilege given to become the children of God, 
who are born, not of blood, nor of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God. It is in 
the act of breaking away from the world and 
sin, and surrendering one's self wholly to Christ 
as the only Savior, that one is regenerated. 
As the inspired Paul said in writing to the 
Galatians : " Ye are all children of God 
through faith in Christ Jesus," and as the in- 
spired John said in his first epistle : " Who- 
soever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born 
of God." 

Or is the question : " How am I to know 
whether I have been born again or not? " The 
answer is, in the words of the Master himself: 



86 MIND AND SPIRIT 

" By their fruits ye shall know them." What 
are these fruits? The Apostle Paul in 
Galatians 5 :22, says : " The fruit of the 
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kind- 
ness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control.'* 
If you are daily watching yourself, and with 
earnest prayer and diligent effort endeavoring 
to exhibit all these various Christ-like qualities, 
you have experienced the second birth, and are 
living the new life. " They that are Christ's 
have crucified the flesh with the affections and 
lusts. If we live in the Spirit, letus also walk 
in the Spirit." " For he that soweth to his 
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he 
that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit 
reap eternal life. And let us not be weary in 
well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if 
we faint not. As we have therefore oppor- 
tunity, let us do good unto all, especially unto 
them who are of the household of faith." 

It is interesting and important to notice that 
what we call character is inseparably con- 
nected with what I have been speaking of — 
the spirit of man. When we speak of a man 
as having a pure and noble spirit, we mean also 
that he possesses a pure and noble character. 
As there is a great deal said nowadays, both 
in preaching and in books and papers, about 
character and the superiority of character to 
everything else that a man can possess, and 



SECOND BIRTH AND NEW LIFE 87 

about the importance of each one building up 
a good character, let it be remembered that 
this can best be done by obeying the Gospel, 
accepting Christ, receiving the second birth, 
and then living the new life. This is the only 
infallible way of building up a pure and noble 
character. I do not mean that joining the 
church will insure such a character, nor that 
striving to secure a good reputation by imitat- 
ing good people, who are lauded to the skies 
and held up as examples, will do so, but that if 
you intelligently accept Christ and strive to 
build up a noble character, with the help of the 
Holy Spirit you will assuredly succeed. Many 
have the reputation of possessing a good char- 
acter, and it is an advantage to themselves and 
to society that it is good. But if they are 
not in Christ, and their life hid with him in 
God, their character is ethical, not spiritual. 
It has been acquired by imitation and not by 
regeneration. 

Such is the state of things in many churches, 
and in business circles, in politics, and in " so- 
ciety," as to create a loud cry for the forma- 
tion of character in our young people. That 
is as it should be. But the only character that 
can stand every test and that will command 
the admiration and confidence of heaven and 
earth, comes through the work of the Divine 
Spirit upon the human spirit, leading to the 
culture of a pure and holy life. 



CHAPTER V 

THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE 

The ascension of our Lord is marked in Holy 
Writ as an epoch, as the beginning of a new 
period in the history of the enlightenment of 
men by the Spirit of God. It introduced 
" the dispensation of the Spirit." The intro- 
duction of the Gospel or spiritual dispensation 
on the Day of Pentecost; the effects of the 
Spirit's special presence and operations; and 
the divine promises concerning the Holy Spirit, 
constitute a prominent and characteristic fea- 
ture of the New Testament. Prophets had 
long before uttered many predictions concern- 
ing the special presence and operations of the 
Spirit in later times, in consequence of which 
knowledge of the truth, righteousness and holi- 
ness, justice, peace, and consolation were to 
be diffused abroad throughout the world. 
Our Lord ordained that every Christian should 
be baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit as 
well as of the Father and of the Son. He thus 
indicated that in the new dispensation there 

would be a personal and intimate connection be- 

88 



THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE 89 

tween every believer and the Holy Spirit ; and in 
those beautiful and tender discourses of the 
last night our Savior spent with his disciples 
the internal nature of the Spirit's work under 
the Gospel, and the promise that he would be 
sent to take the place of their absent Master, 
to be their teacher and helper, were fully de- 
clared. The different relation of the Holy 
Spirit to believers under the old dispensation 
and the new was set forth by the apostle Paul 
under the images of a master's relation to his 
servant, and of a father's relation to his son, 
so much closer and more intimate was to be 
the union, so much higher and more favored the 
position of a believer in the later stages of the 
history of redemption than in the earlier. 

Now it is a truth of exceeding interest and 
of the greatest practical importance that a 
person may be a believer in Christ, may have 
been truly regenerated, and yet he may not 
have received the influence and power of the 
Holy Spirit as promised in the Scriptures. 
Of course the common influences of the Spirit 
are with all men. Certainly none are recon- 
ciled to God and united to Christ but by the 
special work of the Spirit upon them. And 
yet a regenerated person may not have re- 
ceived the influence of the Spirit in that meas- 
ure, to that degree, or with that power, prom- 
ised in the Word. The great promise of the 



90 MIND AND SPIRIT 

New Testament is that the Holy Spirit would 
be given to believers in Jesus, — that is, as we 
are taught in the eleventh chapter of Luke, to 
those persons who ask, and seek, and knock; 
who are in real earnest to obtain the great 
blessing. Paul called him " The Holy Spirit 
of Promise." Dear reader, it is one thing to 
be convicted of sin and guilt, and to feel one's 
need of a Savior. It is another thing to 
realize our need of the Holy Spirit, that he 
may enlighten our mind in the knowledge of 
the truth; to purify our heart by dwelling in 
it; invigorate our weak purpose and feeble 
will ; sweeten our disposition ; and energize our 
character. Is it not rather a common oc- 
currence for persons to rest satisfied when they 
have obtained peace of mind through faith 
and hope in Christ? There many seem to 
stop. They do not manifest the same anxiety 
to obtain what Paul calls " the fulness of the 
blessing of the Gospel of Christ," which comes 
from the Holy Spirit, that they did to obtain 
an interest and a hope in Christ. The impor- 
tant truth for us to notice, then, is that each 
one of us needs the Holy Spirit just as dis- 
tinctly and just as much as he needs Christ. 
We need the Spirit, and more and more of the 
Spirit's influence, that we may grow in grace, 
that we may have more spiritual life, that we 
may understand the Scriptures, and that we 



THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE 91 

may become stronger and stronger to do, to 
dare, and to endure. One may be resting on 
Christ, and yet be a weak, idle, and fruitless 
Christian. Yes, one may have a well-founded 
hope, and yet be greatly troubled by doubts 
and unbelief, by melancholy feelings and 
gloomy forebodings. One may have religion, 
but not enough of it to make him comfortable, 
happy, and useful. But, oh! it is quite an- 
other thing to be walking in the light of God, 
to be of a cheerful spirit and always rejoic- 
ing in the Lord, to be strong, and brave, and 
active, and useful, and happy — and that 
comes by seeking and obtaining more and 
more of the Holy Spirit of Christ. 

There are illustrations of this truth in the 
New Testament. The case of the apostles and 
other disciples who followed Jesus while he was 
yet on earth is one. They were sincere Chris- 
tians, and yet they did not receive the Holy 
Spirit as promised until after the ascension 
of their Lord. 

In Acts 8:12-17 is another instance. When 
the people of the city of Samaria heard Philip 
preaching Christ unto them, they believed and 
were baptized, both men and women. " Now 
when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard 
that Samaria had received the word of God, 
they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when 
they were come down, prayed for them that they 



92 MIND AND SPIRIT 

might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet 
he was fallen on none of them: only they were 
baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus)." 
That was because they believed in Christ as 
their Savior: but they needed something more. 
In Acts 19: 1-7 we read that Paul, coming to 
Ephesus, became acquainted there with about 
twelve disciples. He was in their company and 
observed something in their conversation or 
conduct which led him to think that they had 
not yet received the Holy Spirit as promised. 
He asked them, " Have ye received the Holy 
Spirit since ye believed?" The reply was: 
" We have not so much as heard whether there 
be any Holy Spirit." The apostle then gave 
them the instruction suited to their case ; they 
were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, 
and when Paul had laid his hands on them, 
they received the Holy Spirit. 

There are believing souls in the churches who 
are in doubt about themselves, and often in 
darkness and distress. Why is it so? Is it 
not because they have never received the Holy 
Spirit as promised since they believed? They 
have not received any special divine anointing. 
They have not been endued with power from on 
high. They have not been baptized with the 
Holy Spirit and with fire. And there are many 
church-members who may be sincere believers, 
who are yet cold in heart, worldly-minded, and 



THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE 93 

indisposed to attend to religious duties. This 
is to be accounted for by the fact that they 
have not apprehended the teaching of Scripture 
concerning the Holy Spirit. They have not 
realized their need of the Spirit. They think 
that they did all they could do when they gave 
themselves to Christ. They have neither de- 
sired nor prayed for nor received the Holy 
Spirit since they came to Jesus. They are 
not yet blessed as were those members of the 
church of Ephesus to whom Paul wrote an 
epistle in which, speaking of Christ, he said: 
" In whom also after that ye believed ye were 
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." 

Every powerful revival of religion affords 
illustrations of this truth. At such a time 
many a believer has become sensible of the fact 
that he lacks something, some divine gift, some 
spiritual power, which he sees to be working 
in others around him. And so he has been led 
to pray earnestly and perseveringly for a 
heavenly baptism, a divine anointing, for him- 
self. Have we not all seen instances of the 
wonderful and pleasing change which comes 
over a man, when, from being merely a believer 
in Christ, merely a worshiper of God, he is 
baptized with the Holy Spirit and with the 
celestial fire of Christian love and zeal? I 
knew a young man, the father of a little family, 
who had been a church-member for some years, 



94 MIND AND SPIRIT 

and was an upright and blameless man morally. 
But no one had ever heard his voice in prayer, 
and I suppose that he had not thought it pos- 
sible that he would ever lead others in prayer 
or rise in a public assembly to speak on the 
subject of religion. But during a revival in 
the congregation to which he belonged he, with 
a number of others, received the influence of 
the Holy Spirit as they had never received it 
before. He immediately set up a family altar 
and sanctified his home. He began also to 
lead publicly in prayer, and, after a time, to 
speak and exhort others to seek the salvation 
of their souls. It was not long till he was 
elected an elder in the church, and then the 
superintendent of a large and flourishing Sun- 
day School; and I have heard that diffident 
and timid man addressing his teachers and 
scholars with eloquence, not that of the cul- 
tivated orator, but with the eloquence and 
power of a sincere Christian, of an honest and 
earnest soul burning with love for Christ and 
for the salvation of those whom he was address- 
ing. The church needs a great awakening. 
How many of God's dear children need to be 
" filled," like Barnabas, " with the Holy Spirit 
and with faith " before they can be truly happy 
or greatly useful! Another Pentecost is what 
the disciples of to-day sadly need. Blessed be 
God, we live under the New Covenant, under 



THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE 95 

the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The 
spiritual forces of Christianity are not ex- 
hausted. Oh, no ! They have scarcely been 
tried yet. The church of Christ has not yet 
girded herself for the conflict, nor put on her 
strength. The religion of rites and ceremonies 
has been tried for more than fifteen centuries, 
and it has been found wanting. The religion 
of dogma, — that is, of cold assent to orthodox 
doctrine, — has been tried for several centuries, 
and it, too, has been found wanting. There 
remains to be tried the religion of the Spirit. 
It is true that this has been known, experienced, 
and practised by individuals, here and there, 
ever since the apostolic times. But it remains 
now for the religion of the Spirit, which is the 
religion of experience, the religion of love, the 
religion of mighty power, to be experienced 
and practised by whole churches, and, as God 
lives, it will not be found wanting. In the 
Lord Jesus Christ is an infinite fulness of the 
Holy Spirit. In that divine source, that per- 
ennial spring of life and power for the church 
of God, are infinite and therefore inexhaustible 
resources, — abundant, fresh, and powerful as 
on the day of Pentecost. It is not without 
great significance that ever since the year 1857 
the evangelical churches throughout the world 
have been observing, during the first full week 
of each year, a concert of prayer for the out- 



96 MIND AND SPIRIT 

pouring of the Holy Spirit. Believers begin 
to be more and more conscious that this is the 
one great need of a debilitated church and of 
a spiritually dead world. Joseph Cook, who 
had the insight which the Spirit gives, said 
that Christian faith and practice have not yet 
been lifted into harmony with the tone of the 
Scriptures, and that the work most needed in 
the church at large is to Christianize our 
Christianity. It is greatly encouraging to 
know that far more is made of the truth con- 
cerning the Holy Spirit than was the case be- 
fore the " Great Awakening " in the eighteenth 
century, before the revival of spiritual religion, 
and the outpouring of the missionary spirit. 
Sad as things are yet, earnest Christians are 
beginning to honor the Spirit, even as they 
honor the Father and as they honor the Son. 

Mr. Spurgeon, that most admirable preacher 
of the Gospel, said : " We are not going to be 
dragging on forever like Pharaoh with the 
wheels off his chariot. My heart exults and my 
eyes flash with the thought that very likely I 
shall live to see the outpouring of the Spirit, 
when the sons and daughters of God again 
shall prophesy, and the young men shall see 
visions, and the old men shall dream dreams." 

Mr. Moody was a mighty force among the 
men of the nineteenth century. Why? Was 
it because of his extraordinary natural ability? 



THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE 97 

I think not. I believe there are many men 
standing in metropolitan pulpits, and address- 
ing large congregations every Sabbath, who 
possess finer natural gifts than Mr. Moody, 
who yet do not stir the souls of men as he did. 
Was it because of his fine education? Cer- 
tainly not; for so little of the conventional 
education had he that it is related of him that 
when he was converted and began to labor to 
bring others to Christ, he could not read some 
of the verses in the New Testament without 
stopping now and then to spell a word. No, 
no! It was because from the day of his con- 
version he apprehended the truth about the 
Holy Spirit, and he endeavored in all his per- 
sonal experience, and in all his preaching and 
work, to honor the Spirit, and the Spirit 
honored and blessed Mr. Moody's word and 
work. 

Believer in Jesus, consecrate yourself more 
entirely, to your Divine Redeemer, who is your 
Lord and King. That you may do so in 
reality, be importunate in praying for the 
Holy Spirit — the Spirit of light and love, the 
Spirit of understanding and wisdom, the Spirit 
of power — and see how life will brighten for 
you, and how the world will be changed to the 
opened eyes of your understanding. The 
heavens and the earth will be filled with new 
wonders. Life will be filled with sweet, bewil- 



98 MIND AND SPIRIT 

dering mysteries, mysteries of providence, 
grace, and love. To a soul that has been bap- 
tized with the Holy Spirit and has had a vision 
of the King in his beauty, all objects and all 
creatures will seem to speak of him and to 
praise him. 

Believer in Jesus, do you sometimes feel dis- 
couraged because of some lack of advantages 
in your preparation for life's work, or because 
of some defect in temper or in disposition, 
which seems to prevent you from being the man 
or woman you want to be? Then listen: 

Just as freely as Christ is offered in the Gos- 
pel to every unconverted soul and pressed upon 
his immediate acceptance, so freely is the Holy 
Spirit offered to the immediate acceptance of 
every believing soul. Just as the air is all 
around you and ever near you, offering itself to 
you for inspiration as the means of preserving 
and promoting your physical life, so the Holy 
Spirit is ever near you, offering himself to your 
acceptance and ready, when you are ready, — 
when you realize your need of him, when you 
really want him, when you are urgent and per- 
severing, — he is ready to abide with you, to 
fill and warm your heart, to enlighten your 
mind, to strengthen your faculties, to sweeten 
your disposition, to purify and energize your 
character, to sanctify and beautify your life ; 
yes, — to make your life and work on earth a 



THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE 99 

wondrous poem to be read in heaven; your 
words and deeds here to be a melody, constitut- 
ing a sweet prelude to the glorious concert in 
heaven. 



ADDENDA 

If, after following the line of thought con- 
tained in the foregoing treatise, your feeling is 
that it is a very strange thing that Christian- 
ity, being indeed a divine revelation, being 
wonderfully well-suited to meet the necessities 
of man, and being re-enforced with latent forces 
and resources calculated to ensure its complete 
and triumphant victory over all opposing 
forces, has not gained such a victory long ere 
this, I would here jot down some of the reasons 
why it has not won the world to Christ : 

1. The fact that Christians generally have 
thus far, in their mental philosophy, ignored 
the spirit, and made entirely too much of the 
intellect, is sufficient of itself to account for it. 

2. The fact that the great majority of 
Christians thus far have been content to live 
without the special help of the Holy Spirit, 
as promised in the Scriptures, is sufficient 
to account for it, if there were_ no other rea- 
sons. 

3. The Church of Rome was, from an early 

period until the Reformation in the sixteenth 

century, the representative of Christianity in 
100 



ADDENDA 101 

the world. It soon became corrupted, and it 
remains to this day a corrupt and misleading 
church because it is founded, not upon the 
Word of God alone, but upon Holy Scripture 
and tradition. Whatever doctrine or practice 
is contrary to Holy Scripture, or is not sus- 
tained by it, they defend by reference to tradi- 
tion. This is what has corrupted it, and would 
corrupt any church that might adopt it as a 
fundamental principle. 

4. The Reformation was a wonderful work 
of Divine grace and power. The Protestant 
churches started out well, being pure in doc- 
trine and practice. But not using the truth 
revealed concerning the Holy Spirit and his 
place, work, and power under the Gospel, they 
soon lapsed into a cold and formal profession 
of orthodox doctrine, and a careless unconcern 
about the condition and destiny of the outside 
world. It required the " great awakening " of 
the eighteenth century to arouse the slumber- 
ing churches to a sense of their duty to the out- 
side world. 

5. The Church of Rome, corrupt as it is, has 
retained some important characteristics of the 
apostolic church, while the Protestant churches 
have been gradually losing them: 

(a) One is forbidding the marriage of a be- 
liever and an unbeliever. This is clearly for- 
bidden in the New Testament. Its being per- 



102 MIND AND SPIRIT 

mitted is a source of corruption in the Protes- 
tant churches. 

(b) Another is claiming every child born of 
a believing parent as a juvenile member of the 
church, to be treated as such, and holding the 
parent responsible for the instruction and 
training of the child in the Christian life. 

(c) The Church of Rome is not afraid to ex- 
ercise discipline when it is needed. The Protes- 
tant churches seem to deem it not expedient to 
be strict in watching over their juvenile mem- 
bers and guarding them from evil habits and 
associations ; or to be strict in the matter of 
exercising discipline over the older members, if 
they be rich, or if they have a number of friends 
in the congregation who might object to it. 

(d) The Roman Church has ever been care- 
ful not to allow non-Catholics to obtain any 
power in the church. Protestants have not 
been careful in this respect, and they frequently 
give to non-members a vote in important church 
matters, especially in the matter of calling a 
pastor. In this way a few men, especially if 
they are rich, may rule both pastor and con- 
gregation. They may decide what kind of a 
minister the church shall have. They may, in 
many cases, decide what kind of doctrine shall 
be preached in their pulpit. In such circum- 
stances purity of doctrine and practice is im- 
possible. 



ADDENDA 103 

6. For a long time past, even in the Protes- 
tant churches, the Christianity which has been 
practiced and exhibited to the world has been 
so defective as to constitute a compromise be- 
tween what is taught in the Scriptures, and 
pure worldliness. This has been the case par- 
ticularly in England. Hannah More was a 
brilliant member of the coterie which sur- 
rounded Dr. Johnson, in London, in the latter 
part of the eighteenth century. It consisted 
of Garrick, Goldsmith, Burke, Lady Mon- 
tagu, and many others. In this notable com- 
pany Hannah More was, on account of her per- 
sonal attractions and her talents, a great favor- 
ite. But she came under the influence of evan- 
gelical religion, experienced a change of heart, 
and became, like the apostle Paul, henceforth 
devoted to " one thing " — the service of her 
Lord and Saviour, the salvation of those around 
her, and the improvement of their condition. 
The world did not cease to admire and love her ; 
but she no longer found her " chief joy " in the 
circle of wit and gaiety, but, on the contrary, 
in the homes of the poor and needy, and in 
writing to show the world the difference between 
the popular religion and that revealed in the 
Word of God. About the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, William Wilberforce, an in- 
fluential statesman and member of the ruling 
class in Great Britain, having learned in his 



104 MIND AND SPIRIT 

happy experience the world-wide difference be- 
tween the prevailing religion and that required 
by the Scriptures, wrote and published his 
" Practical View of the Prevailing Religious 
System of Professed Christians in the Higher 
and Middle Classes, Contrasted with Real 
Christianity." Such efforts as these, in con- 
nection with the Wesleyan movement in Eng- 
land and the revivals in America, produced a 
wonderful effect, and up to the middle of the 
last century spiritual Christianity made great 
progress, especially in the United States, under 
such earnest and devoted leaders as Lyman 
Beecher, Nettleton, Payson, and Finney. But 
for the last fifty years, while the external activi- 
ties induced by such influences have continued, 
there has been a steady decline in deep-seated 
personal experience and piety. The main 
cause of this has been given in the foregoing 
treatise. 

7. The church has been waking up in one 
respect. Christians have begun to feel and to 
manifest a deep interest in the lamentable con- 
dition of their fellowmen, both at home and in 
foreign lands. This is evidently not so much 
an anxious concern about their spiritual con- 
dition as it is a desire to give them more of the 
blessings of this life than they now enjoy. The 
result is that in many places a social gospel 
has taken the place of " the glorious Gospel of 



ADDENDA 105 

the blessed God," which is a gospel of salvation 
for the guilty sinner who will believe on Christ 
crucified for him and turn from sin unto holi- 
ness, and from the power of Satan unto God. 
Our Lord reduced the moral law to two require- 
ments : (1) To love God with our whole heart, 
and (£) to love our neighbors — our fellow- 
men — as we love ourselves. The latter covers 
the whole ground of sociology. And the Gos- 
pel of Christ ought to be applied practically 
to the reformation of existing conditions, so 
far as they are bad, and the setting forth of all 
proper methods of reforming and improving 
those conditions, and to describing the wonder- 
ful and blessed conditions that will exist when 
the Gospel shall have been practically applied. 
But this furnishes no excuse, no reason, for ig- 
noring or withholding the grand old Gospel of 
the grace and love of God, which calls upon 
every individual in the world, who has not al- 
ready done it, to believe at once on Christ and 
to turn from sin unto holiness of life. 

8. For Christianity is emasculated, and the 
church is paralyzed, when ministers and other 
Christians become silent on the subject of sin 
and its awful consequences in this life and in the 
life to come, and on the subject of the great 
atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary as 
connected with the sins and miseries of man- 
kind. The moral law, — the law of God, — the 



106 MIND AND SPIRIT 

nature and consequences of sin, the vicarious 
atonement of Christ, — repentance : these are 
absolutely necessary in all preaching if there is* 
to be any proper appreciation of God's un- 
speakable gift of his own dear Son. These 
great fundamental truths must be the warp and 
woof in the web of preaching or another gospel 
is substituted for the one which was preached 
by the apostles of Christ. 

9. There is a proverbial expression, heard on 
every side, which has a wonderful influence in 
hindering the Gospel and in retarding the com- 
ing of the Kingdom. It is in these words : " It 
has always been so, and it will always be so." 
This is as great a falsehood as the devil ever 
invented. Our Lord was manifested that he 
might destroy the works of the devil. The 
teachings of Christ, if fairly presented, will 
bring about great changes for the better in the 
manners and customs of the people. It will 
revolutionize society. In order to prevent this, 
the great adversary sees to it that the people 
are taught to dread any great changes, and to 
fortify them in their position, he reminds them 
continually of the old saying, " It has always 
been so, and it will always be so." Little do 
they realize what great and glorious changes 
there will be as we become obedient to the re- 
quirements of the Lord. 

10. Another thing that hinders the Gospel 



ADDENDA 107 

and retards the coming of the Kingdom is over- 
looking the worth and dignity of the common 
Christian. Acccording to the Scriptures, every 
real Christian is a king and a priest. In the 
Christian church there is no priesthood but that 
of the saints. Every genuine Christian is a 
saint, a priest, and a king. And every Chris- 
tian should be a preacher of the Gospel. When 
the church of Jerusalem was persecuted, " they 
that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
preaching the word." The apostles remained 
at Jerusalem. In the course of time common 
Christians have been taught to keep in their 
place and ministers have been exalted into a pro- 
fessional class. There are, however, many min- 
isters and Christians who are conscious that 
there is something wrong, and they say that 
they are waiting for some great leader to ap- 
pear and tell them what to do and to lead them 
in the doing of it. Ah ! they overlook the fact 
that the Lord Jesus is the Captain of our sal- 
vation ; that we are all soldiers in his army ; that 
he has given us our " marching orders " ; and 
that all we have to do is to obey, and go for- 
ward, looking for leadership and victory to him 
to whom has been given all authority in heaven 
and on earth. 

11. The Lord's tithe has been withheld, so 
that the work of the church in propagating the 
Gospel and saving the people has been hindered 



108 MIND AND SPIRIT 

for lack of means wherewith to carry on the 
work. We know that under the Gospel we need 
not look for a specific law or command for 
everything that needs to be done. Ours is a 
religion of love, and love does not wait for com- 
mands, does not expect them. We are to 
" search the Scriptures " to ascertain the 
"mind of the Lord," or the "will of God." 
In searching them to ascertain his will con- 
cerning the duty and privilege of " giving," we 
find that the patriarchs practiced the giving of 
the tenth to the Lord ; that God made it one of 
the laws binding upon the Israelites; that our 
Savior spoke approvingly of it ; and that if we 
Christians are not willing to give the tenth of 
our income, we are robbing God of his due, and 
shall suffer leanness and barrenness for it. We 
modern believers ought certainly to be willing 
to give as much to the Lord as the ancient be- 
lievers did. 

12. To the individual Christian the develop- 
ment of the spiritual life is a great and difficult 
work. In a very real sense it is against nature ; 
and it requires time, earnest attention, and a 
vast deal of prayer. A vast deal of prayer, I 
say, because without divine guidance and help 
it is impossible. Absorption in worldly busi- 
ness interferes with it, — indeed renders it im- 
possible, — so that the wisdom and goodness of 
the Lord are manifest in his setting apart one 



ADDENDA 109 

whole day every week on which we may give our 
attention to this necessary and delightful work 
of promoting our spiritual life, and of getting 
ready for a higher, holier, and in every way 
more satisfying and glorious life with the Lord 
Jesus, with the redeemed, and with the angelic 
host, in the heavenly places. 

It is becoming rather common in our country 
for the people, even for professed Christians, to 
spend the Lord's Day, which is the Christian 
Sabbath, in riding out for pleasure, in visiting 
friends, in traveling, and the like. The study 
of the Scriptures and worship in the house of 
God are neglected. If reminded of their duty, 
these people say, " Why, what harm is there in 
what we are doing? Is there any sin in our 
seeking a little change and recreation on the 
only day when the family are all at leisure? " 
Well, the harm of it is that the families that 
spend the Sabbath in this way are neglecting 
the most important thing in life — the culture 
of the spiritual part of their nature. And the 
sin of it is that they are disregarding the com- 
mand of God, which is, " Remember the Sabbath 
Day to keep it holy." 

13. Another reason why Christianity has not 
prevailed sooner is that Christians have not 
given earnest heed to what the Scriptures say 
concerning the conversion of the Jews, and be- 
cause they are making so little effort to bring 



110 MIND AND SPIRIT 

them to Christ. See in Romans 9, 10 and 11 
how deeply interested in this matter Paul was, 
and how earnestly he desired the conversion of 
his countrymen : " God hath not cast away his 
people whom he foreknew." " Through their 
fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles." " If 
the fall of them be the riches of the world, and 
the diminishing of them the riches of the Gen- 
tiles ; how much more their fulness ! " " If the 
casting away of them be the reconciling of the 
world, what shall the receiving of them be, but 
life from the dead? " " And they also, if they 
abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: 
for God is able to graff them in again." " How 
much more shall these which be the natural 
branches be graffed into their own olive tree ! " 
There are many prophecies in Scripture con- 
cerning the return of the Jews to their own land, 
to the beauty, sacredness, and importance of 
Jerusalem, etc. Some of these predictions have 
reference to their return from the Babylonian 
captivity; others to their return to their own 
land from their world-wide dispersion, and to 
their acceptance of the Lord Jesus as their 
promised Messiah and Savior. As he is to re- 
turn to the earth " in like manner as he went," 
why may we not expect him to come to Mount 
Olivet, in the immediate neighborhood of Jeru- 
salem, and establish his earthly throne in the 
City of the Great King? But for that magnifi- 



ADDENDA 111 

cent outcome of events the " way of the Lord " 
must be " prepared " by the removal of ob- 
stacles which are now in the way. Our cities 
must be cleaned up, our civilization Christian- 
ized, and the Jews, with their strong religious 
instinct and their great wealth, must be con- 
verted to the faith of Jesus Christ. 



It was Kant, I believe, who first used the 
phrase " regulative truths." It is a very sig- 
nificant and helpful expression. In nature the 
centrifugal and centripetal forces regulate each 
other. In life individualism is regulated by so- 
cialism. In theology Calvinism needs to be 
regulated by Arminianism. In man, mind and 
spirit are regulative of each other. He who 
depends upon his mind or reason alone, without 
reference to spirit, will make a wreck of him- 
self religiously. And he who is controlled by 
spirit alone, without reference to reason, is a re- 
ligious fanatic. Each is lacking in the proper 
balance. A striking instance of mutual regula- 
tion is found in the incessant conflict between 
the progressive and the conservative parties in 
countries favored with popular government. 
All that is true, good, and desirable ought to be 
conserved ; all that is erroneous, evil, and unde- 
sirable ought to pass away. Progressives are 
wrong in their proneness to uproot and destroy 



112 MIND AND SPIRIT 

what is true, good, and desirable. Conserva- 
tives are wrong in endeavoring to preserve what 
is erroneous, evil, and undesirable. Conserva- 
tism must be progressive. Progress must be 
conservative. Two distinct and rival parties, 
kept up perpetually, are not necessary. They 
are harmful. They are no more necessary in 
the state than Calvinistic andLArminian parties 
and contentions are necessary in the church. 

It was the bringing forth out of the Word of 
God of the old neglected truth, " Ye must be 
born again. . . . Except a man be born again, 
he cannot enter the Kingdom of God," that pro- 
duced the " great awakening " of the eighteenth 
century and ushered in the evangelistic fervor 
and missionary activity of modern times. And 
do not the churches need an " awakening " now 
as much as they did in the time of Edwards, 
Wesley, and Whitefield ? Verily they do ; for in 
the days of Darwinian evolution there was a 
great falling away from the Christian faith, 
from which men have not fully recovered. For 
while most of the leading scientists have re- 
turned to terra firma, and now admit the neces- 
sary existence of the supernatural or spiritual, 
there are multitudes of careless and superficial 
readers and thinkers, who are still at sea and in 
distressing doubt about the Holy Scriptures 
and the Lord Jesus Christ. 



ADDENDA 113 

This, therefore, is the psychological moment 
for ministers of the Word and Christian work- 
ers everywhere to bring forward the doctrine 
and work of the Holy Spirit and to let the peo- 
ple hear continually of the Second Birth as the 
most urgent need of every human being who has 
not experienced it. The Great Teacher of man- 
kind said : " Ye must be born anew." " Mar- 
vel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born 
anew." " Except a man be born anew, he can- 
not enter the Kingdom of God." 

The truth concerning the Holy Spirit and the 
Second Birth is all-important, if we are to have 
a general revival of religious interest. And 
what intelligent person can say one word against 
this revival? For what does it mean but more 
of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and a great 
increase of faith and love, of purity and zeal, 
of courage and power, of happiness and joy, on 
earth and in heaven? For do not the angels re- 
joice over every sinner that repents and turns 
to the Lord? 

And is not a world-wide revival absolutely 
necessary under existing circumstances? So- 
cialism in some form or other seems to be com- 
ing rapidly in Europe and America, in fact in 
all the civilized world. What kind of socialism 
will it be? If things remain as they are in the 
churches, it will in all probability be a wild, in- 
fidel socialism, mixed with communism and an- 



114 MIND AND SPIRIT 

archy; and be revolutionary and bloody in 
character; and if fully established, our last 
state will be worse than our first. Individual 
liberty will be at an end. But let there be 
throughout the world a general revival of re- 
ligion, — of faith in God and in his Christ, — a 
revival of paramount anxiety about spiritual 
and eternal realities, and let there be such a gen- 
eral reformation in morals and manners as has 
always followed a true revival, and the coming 
socialism will be sane, conservative, and Chris- 
tian. It will only be a further development of 
Christian democracy. It will be a government 
of the people, by the people, and for the people. 
It will be a wonderful improvement on the ex- 
isting order of things, and a nearer approach 
to the prevalence on earth of the kingdom of 
heaven. 



Truth is mighty and will prevail. For " the 
word of the Lord endureth forever." " Jesus 
Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever." And " he that soweth to the Spirit shall 
of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Let us, 
therefore, " rejoice in the Lord always "; and 
" whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
are honorable, whatsoever things are just, what- 
soever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if 
there be any virtue, and if there be anything 



ADDENDA 115 

worthy of praise," let us " think on these 
things," make them our own, and help to diffuse 
them throughout the world. 

When I consider the bewilderment of man- 
kind, the endless vagaries of human opinion, the 
discordant voices, the interminable disputes, the 
despairing cry for " more light," the unfinished 
tasks, the disappointed hopes, the miserable life- 
failures — and then think that these things 
ought not to be, and need not be, under Christ ; 
that all this time we have among us a Book 
which contains a revelation of truth, grace, and 
love which, when studied carefully and prayer- 
fully and with the Holy Spirit for our guide, is 
full of a wonderful light, flashes conviction upon 
the sincere seeker after the truth, illuminates 
the world, brings heaven nearer, glorifies God, 
and through a once-suffering and now interced- 
ing Christ and a healing and restoring Spirit, 
uplifts and glorifies man, I cannot but congratu- 
late my reader, who has emerged from the dark- 
ness of nature into the marvellous light of the 
truth as it is in Jesus, and repeat the words, O 
believer in Jesus, " rejoice in the Lord always: 
and again, I say, rejoice." But while rejoic- 
ing in what the Blessed Lord has done for you, 
see that you long and labor to give the same 
light, liberty, and joy to others also. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

EWORLD LEADER .N PAPER PRESERVAT.ON 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



r?K 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 919 619 3 





k '■•'■■' ^ 


n 


■HP 


H 


HvM 


sg \ 


iMlil 



